The Friendship That Helped Create 'Vagina Dispatches'
The filmmaker Mae Ryan and the data journalist Mona Chalabi say that their willingness to push and support each other was the key to creating their Emmy-nominated documentary.
In 2016, Mona Chalabi, the data editor at The Guardian, collaborated with photographer and filmmaker Mae Ryan—now a show developer and producer at The New York Times—to create “Vagina Dispatches.” The four-part series explored the physical, social, and sometimes political dynamics that surround women’s bodies, and has received more than a million views and an Emmy nomination.
In one episode, Mona swims laps with 90-year-old Danish Olympian Greta Anderson, who talks about fainting in the pool at the 1948 Olympics during the 400-meter freestyle finals after getting an injection that promised to delay her period. It’s these moments that capture what Chalabi and Ryan set out to create: a documentary that talks candidly about about one
