‘Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue’ Premieres in New York City Today

The sold-out screening is being held at Village East by Angelika, and will feature appearances by several brand stars.

Roshumba Williams and Jill Campbell / Randy Shropshire/Getty Images

Fans of SI Swimsuit are familiar with the name Jule Campbell. The brand’s founding editor was instrumental in bringing the first SI Swimsuit Issue to life in 1964, and she is credited with inventing the supermodel. Campbell was adamant about featuring models’ names within the pages of the publication, which was virtually unheard of at the time.

The late Campbell’s groundbreaking career is the subject of Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue, directed by her daughter-in-law, Jill Campbell. The documentary’s New York premiere is set for this evening at 4:15 p.m. at Village East by Angelika. Following the sold-out screening, a Q&A will be held with Vanity Fair editor in chief Radhika Jones, SI Swimsuit editor in chief MJ Day, models Carol Alt and Roshumba Williams, and Jill Campbell.

Beyond the Gaze explores Jule’s life and career as a woman who broke glass ceilings in a male-dominated industry, and features interviews with moguls and SI Swimsuit models like Christie Brinkley, Tyra Banks, Elle Macpherson, Paulina Porizkova, Kathy Ireland and Alt.

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Following the documentary’s sold-out premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival last month, Beyond the Gaze premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival and Montclair Film Festival in late October.

“[The film] is about Jule Campbell, who was the founding editor of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue,” Jill, who also serves as the film’s producer and editor, stated on the Woodstock Film Festival red carpet in October. “She started in 1965 and she did it for 32 years and she went on to, in a very kind of sexist, male-dominated business, she helped to create one of the most lucrative magazine issues of all time.”

The documentary, which was produced by Red Barn Productions LLC. and executive-produced by EUE/Screen Gems Documentaries LLC., has been in the works for many years. At the time of Jule’s death in 2022, Jill spoke to us about Jule’s incredible “magnetism” while the film was in production.

“She lived a glamorous life, traveling every inch of the world working with the most iconic models, photographers and journalists of her day, but what made her special was her deep sense of empathy and the authentic interest she took in the lives of those around her, whether she had known them for 10 minutes or 30 years,” Jill said at the time. “She was at once classically refined and wholly modern, a beauty and a career girl who waited to get married, choosing not to wear a wedding ring because she ‘never wanted to feel beholden to anyone.’”

Visit beyondthegazefilm.com for additional details and find tickets to screenings here.