’Beyond the Gaze’ Official Trailer Premiere Showcases Life and Legacy of SI Swimsuit’s Jule Campbell

The magazine’s founding editor is the subject of an award-winning documentary, directed by her daughter-in-law, Jill.

Jill Campbell / Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Last fall, Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue, a film directed by Jill Campbell, premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival. Following October’s sold-out event, the documentary went on to premiere at the likes of the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Montclair Film Festival and New York’s Village East by Angelika.

Earlier today, IndieWire unveiled the official trailer for Beyond the Gaze, the documentary that showcases SI Swimsuit founding editor Jule Campbell’s incredible career. Directed by her daughter-in-law, Jill, the film explores Jule’s life and career as a woman who broke glass ceilings in a male-dominated industry. It features interviews with models and SI Swimsuit moguls like Christie Brinkley, Tyra Banks, Elle Macpherson, Paulina Porizkova, Kathy Ireland and Carol Alt.

Jule, who was was instrumental in the creation of the first SI Swimsuit Issue in 1964, possessed a groundbreaking vision that led to the invention of the supermodel. She was adamant about featuring models’ names within the pages of the magazine, which was unheard of at the time.

“I was really impressed by the multi-layered actualization of the documentary,” Macpherson told SI Swimsuit following the film’s premiere in New York City last November. “I think it touched on a lot of important subjects and at the same time, it was a tender reverence to Jule herself. I thought Jill did an amazing job ... She didn’t polish it to look too perfect. It was authentic and it was authentic Jule. It was a beautiful study of her character and who she was as a person, but also what she represented in her trajectory of her career.”

Elle Macpherson, Jill Campbell, Carol Alt and Roshumba Williams / Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Beyond the Gaze is a critically-acclaimed film, having received the 2025 Enlightenment Award at DOCUTAH, Best Documentary at the Omaha Film Festival and other accolades. Following today’s official trailer premiere, the film will be screened at IFC Center in New York on June 25 and 26, as well as Woods Hole Film Festival in Woods Hole, Mass., on July 28.

Visit beyondthegazefilm.com for details and find tickets to boutique one-night theatrical screenings around the country throughout the summer here.