At 2024’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, two films are illustrating this theme in interconnected ways: Kelly — Someone Else’s Dream, directed by Helen Lõhmus and Leana Jalukse, and CYBORG GENERATION, directed by Miguel Morillo Vega.
Kelly — Someone Else’s Dream tells the story of Estonian freestyle skiing legend Kelly Sildaru, from her first pair of ski boots at age two, moving into freestyle skiing at six, becoming the youngest-ever X Games winner at age 13, revelations of emotional abuse, and her subsequent return to skiing on her own terms.
Initially, we are witness to how learning a skill like skiing so early could be a positive thing. Footage would seem to indicate enthusiasm on Kelly’s part. And who wouldn’t want to encourage children to learn a sport? It’s healthy. It’s enjoyable. And if parents notice their child’s aptitude for a sport, it could genuinely create opportunities for them growing up. Scholarships, employment, lucrative sponsorships, and more. And when our world is obsessed with laser-like focus on one skill to make a living, it can be a reality that the earlier one starts, the more success they have. Whether the results of this early start are positive or negative vary.
Herein lies a core point of the documentary. Kelly’s father, Tõnis Sildaru, was obsessed with her perfection as an athlete. However, as impressed as the skiing community was of Kelly doing tricks that no one else her age could do (achieving an astounding 99 of 100 points at the 2019 X Games), as much as she generated a following with social media, she always needed to do more. Even when everyone else was exhausted at the end of a day on the slopes, she was coached to train more. To facilitate this, Tõnis left his day job to become her manager and trainer.
When the pursuit of perfection and money dominates health and family, the question becomes — how early is too early to train at a professional level?
Freestyle skier Kristi Leskinen recalls that the first time she met Kelly, she saw her landing in an unsafe manner repeatedly. She sensed that there was too much pressure being applied to Kelly. Those around her were worried about the potential for head injuries, paralysis, and more, things that are not uncommon in winter sports. But onward she continued on this track because of her father’s approach to coaching.
The result was physical and emotional distress (to this point, the documentary states “Mental abuse is not a criminal offence in Estonia.”) In 2015, Kelly had an ACL injury. At 17, she had a knee injury that prevented her from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics. This is not to mention the breakdown of family relations. Threats of violence are an especially dark part of Kelly’s story.
The sense from those who contributed to the documentary is that Tõnis wanted to live vicariously through Kelly’s success, to make millions from it, and to get to that without interference, without certification as a coach, and without consideration of her health and safety.
When the pursuit of perfection and money dominates health and family, the question becomes — how early is too early to train at a professional level?
Aged 18 at the time of the documentary’s filming, Kai Landre, the subject of CYBORG GENERATION, has had somewhat more freedom, but is weighed down by the worries of his parents, the traumas of his childhood, and the illegality of what he sought in life.
Landre wanted to become a cyborg.
He was captivated early on by the study of quantum mechanics and the wonders of outer space and sought a deeper connection to it through the development of a new sense that he calls Cosmic Sense. Becoming a cyborg is an uncertain path, but the potential of morphological freedom and cosmic refuge outweighs this uncertainty.
Through the implant of a device he designed with experts, including magnets underneath the skin of his temples, the intention was to be the first person to hear space from Earth. Cosmic rays attracted to Earth split up into subatomic particles called muons. Kai’s device perceives each muon and then translates them into one of 128 notes, which vibrate in his skull. Lower notes come from further away, higher notes are higher. It’s akin to a cosmic hearing aid.
“Medical implants are socially accepted and legal. Operations to expand perception, no.”
(Miguel Morillo Vega, director of CYBORG GENERATION)
Further reinforcing his plan are conversations with the world’s first cyborg artists: Neil Harbisson, who can hear colours through an antenna implanted in his skull. Moon Ribas, who can feel earthquakes through implants in her feet. Manel De Aguas, who can hear weather through the use of Weather Fins installed in his head.
Biological modifications like these are illegal. It’s a struggle to find a surgeon who will perform such an operation because it’s seen as something unnatural. As the film’s director states “Medical implants are socially accepted and legal. Operations to expand perception, no.”
Obtaining this surgery is a rollercoaster, between technological development, academia’s celebration of Kai, the disapproval of his family, and the traumas of the past that are brought up.
At one point, Kai says “My whole life has been to seek revenge against God… by consciously modifying my body to expand my perception.” Within the setting of his Catholic upbringing, he experienced abuse and inappropriate behaviour. Homophobic treatment created a sense of rejection. Thus, he is reclaiming his autonomy.
You’ll have to attend the festival (between April 25th and May 5th) to hear Kelly and Kai’s full stories, but both documentaries cultivate an immensely insightful discourse about young people having space to shape their own lives.
CYBORG GENERATION is playing at Scotiabank Theatre 6 on Friday April 26th at 8:00 PM and Sunday April 28th at 7:15 PM. You can meet Kelly Sildaru and the directors of Kelly — Someone Else’s Dream at 7:00 PM on Thursday May 2nd in Tartu College room G1. Then, go watch the documentary on Friday May 3rd at 11:15 AM at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Tickets can be purchased online at hotdocs.ca/whats-on .
