One result is “The Skinny,” a comedic web series about a feminist YouTube star (Ms. Kahnweiler) who struggles with bulimia. Ms. Soloway is among the project’s executive producers. Six 10-minute episodes of “The Skinny” will have their premiere at the Sundance Film Festival here on Tuesday; starting on Wednesday, the series will be available on the lifestyle websiteRefinery29. After a delay of a few months, episodes of “The Skinny” will also appear on Ms. Soloway’s video hub, Wifey.tv.
Trevor Groth, Sundance’s programming director, writing in festival guidebooks, described the series as “a new kind of dark comedy for those who know that the most beautiful moments in life ain’t always so pretty.” He added of Ms. Kahnweiler, “Mining dark terrain for hilarity is a treacherous game that she plays masterfully.”
Ms. Kahnweiler isn’t sure about all that. “My grandma will be really happy, but part of me is always focused on being skinnyenough and being pretty enough,” she said. “It’s a struggle, but I’m working on it. As I say in one of my videos, I’m sick of asking chubby white men with man buns for permission to be myself.”
“The Skinny” arrives as Ms. Kahnweiler has been gaining attention for YouTube videos that use comedy to explore uncomfortable topics. In June, for instance, she posted “Jessie Gets Arrested,” which depicts her going to great lengths to draw police attention; her stated goal was to prove “white privilege” — to show that a white woman has an easier time breaking laws than, say, a black woman.
“She is fearless,” Ms. Soloway, who created Wifey.tv with Rebecca Odes, said of Ms. Kahnweiler in New York magazine last year. “Actually, she’s better than fearless. You can smell the fear on her, but that doesn’t stop her from doing the thing.”
