crip camp transcript
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is a powerful documentary that recounts the ties of a Catskills summer camp to the birth of the American disability rights movement in the 1970s. Which was different from life back at home? The other day I have decided to watch a documentary on Netflix, called 'Crip Camp'. Weve got romance, breakups, emotionally loaded dumplings this episode has a little bit of everything! I just feel like these people are crazy, I mean, in a good way. It is a natural progression in life, and my gosh, so many of us think that this is our special power. So, you are both--you're a character in this film and you are the co-director. Judy Heumann: 'Crip Camp' didn't win Oscar, but it's still a win for people with disabilities Because of 'Crip Camp,' people want to learn more about the disability movement, and it is enabling . Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. And certainly, when I got there, in the early '70s, indeed it truly was what Denise says, a utopia. Camp Jened, in upstate New York, was the epicenter of a disability rights movement that led to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The movies most commanding presence the catalyst for its main action is Judy Heumann, who developed polio at 18 months and has spent most of her life in a wheelchair. In the summer of 2020, the Crip Camp Impact Campaign hosted a 15 week virtual camp experience that featured trailblazing speakers from the disability community. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is a 2020 American documentary film directed, written and co-produced by Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht. Crip Camp, the new documentary from Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground Productions, is a story of political revolution wrapped in tale of personal triumph. Today I am speaking with Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, co-directors of Crip Camp: The Disability Revolution, a fascinating film and one of those nominees. Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport Alas, to the real world, they barely exist. The first person we meet is Berkeley Rep sound designer Jimmy LeBrecht, who's climbing above the theater's stage without the use of his legs. There, I wasn't different. And we just asked ourselves, does every scene have that kind of punk, like sort of "F- you, you know, I'm going to be the way I am" kind of attitude. Most movies about disability, even other documentaries, are focused on narratives of overcoming the suffering caused by our own disabled bodies. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google It's a summer camp for, you know, the handicapped, run by hippies. It was just like an editing feat that kind of--you know, if President Obama wants it, then we will make it happen, you know. Outgoing, boisterous with friends and in 1971, about to start his first year of high school. "Crip Camp" starts with the fun but shifts to the fuss, focusing on former counselor Judy Heumann and her fellow activists, a handful of whom had attended Camp Jened. But frank discussion of disabled sexuality is itself important. I think that one of the definitions of privilege is that, you know, social space is yours for the taking. I wish I had been there. In the 1970s, disabled teenagers faced a world of social exclusion, isolation, even institutionalization. Because this is definitely an inspiring story, but I even think somebody in the film uses the term "inspiration porn." The film, from the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama, is vying for an Oscar this Sunday. Poster for the film, Crip Camp. MS. HORNADAY: It works beautifully. Can you tell us a little bit about their involvement? Crip Camp was what the kids who went to Camp Jened in the 1960s and 70s called their summer paradise. I mean, I had been colleagues with Jim for 15 years, and friends, and over that time Jim had really opened up a sort of portal for me into disability, and a way of looking at disability that I hadn't before known. One boy with cerebral palsy remembers a female counselor teaching him to kiss. Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts. or read the transcripts instead. With a Netflix release imminent and backing from Obama & Co. the hope for filmmakers . I'm Ann Hornaday, The. "So at 4:30 in the afternoon, we formed this huge circle. No one has known what shes thinking because no one has listened closely enough. Why educator David Tarvin "thinks in Prezi" Feb. 13, 2023. Like, this isn't fair. And as the ripples of the impact of that liberatory experience grow, the movement grows and the community grows with it. And our history dies with us. While Crip Camp follows teens who attended the Hunter, NY camp in the early 1970's, the summer camp actually ran from the 1950s until 1977. And you saw the ripples outward. It is a much-needed reminder that Civil Rights must . No one at Camp Jened couldve imagined that those summers in the woods together would be the beginnings of a revolution. MS. NEWNHAM: You know, I do, and I am happy that "Crip Camp" has been able to be kind of a part of that cultural conversation. Boy, I have to tell you, as a 15-year-old, it was like freedom. "Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution", un estreno de Netflix, tiene una clasificacin R (que requiere que los menores de 17 aos vayan acompaados de un tutor) de la Asociacin . So is showing disabled people agitating for the right to participate in society. MR. LeBRECHT: Yeah. By the way, Steve is the other source of the R rating here, and I will leave you with that tantalizing little teaser. And actually, our impact producer, Andraa LaVant, and Stacey Park Milbern, two brilliant, young disabled activists out of the disability justice movement created a virtual "Crip Camp" experience at the very beginning of the pandemic, but 10,000 people from all over the world joined in. The impact campaign team used an intersectional lens to encourage people to think of disability as a social justice issue, develop emerging leaders, and create long-lasting partnerships with like-minded organizations. An unfortunate truth about the disability community is that we dont have a lot of older leaders. The protest that you are alluding to was this incredible occupation of a Federal building in San Francisco, which lasted for 25 days, 150 activists occupied the building. MS. HORNADAY: Indeed. Crip Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020. I doubt you will either. 12:00:27 Transcript:Camp Cool Kidz Transcript:Camporee Transcript:Cookin' Cookies Transcript:Cult Camp D Transcript:David Gets Hard E Transcript:Eggs Benefits Transcript:Escape from Camp Campbell I We had known each other for a long time, but there was a lot of trust. And it was this kind of gentle questioning that kind of pushed us to figure out, you know, some way to do it, and we ended up being able to use this old audio recording and splice together. These perpetually marginalized kids differently abled because of deafness, polio, car crashes are suddenly not on the margins, they're at the center of things, falling in love, having the time of their unusually-sheltered lives. Crip Camp serves not only as an excellent introduction to disability history for those who are unfamiliar, but as a humanizing glimpse into the lives of civil rights leaders I thought I already knew. MR. LeBRECHT: Don't frame it as limitations. To give a little additional context for our listening audience today I wanted to let you know I am wearing a blue sweater, smudged glasses, and I have a small plant to my left. For more information, please contact us by mail campingdescapucines.14 arobase orange.fr Jim's personal story would bring you into that. "They didn't think I was going to live more than a couple of hours," we hear him say. MS. HORNADAY: Fascinating. Many of those campers went on to become leaders . But, basically, with the one street, we were able to shut the city down. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Everyone at Jened seems to be in clover a word I employ because the film sets the mood with Tommy James and the Shondells Crimson and Clover. The Grateful Dead are all over the soundtrack too, alive once more in the scraggly hair, beards, and tie-dyed clothes. MS. NEWNHAM: I mean, what we found was that it was completely essential. Then, over time, they'd come to feel like this is a world that is fun and joyous and liberating for them as viewers, just like it was for Jim. Nicole, can you speak to that briefly, before we have to say goodbye? The second half of the film chronicles the tenacity that was needed to win battles in one administration, then re-win them in the next, for almost two decades until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The film focuses on the activist for the disability rights movement. [2] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. I mean, there are people with disabilities who are capable and able to work in the entertainment business, but we are being held back by stigma and lack of access. [18] Katie Rife of The A.V. Another central character is Judy Heumann, whose early roots as a leader of the movement demonstrate how youthful experiences in activism can shape a lifetime of progress and change. I mean, especially the footage from the sit-in, is really due to all of us digging around, finding things. So, we have this executive producer, Howard Gertler, and he read in the trades that the Obamas were starting a production company in partnership with Netflix. This story was edited for radio by Nina Gregory and adapted for the Web by Petra Mayer. A collective called People's Video Theatre was capturing all this in black and white kids enjoying the freedom to do things they couldn't usually do put themselves out there, complain about their folks being overprotective, and most of all, run the show themselves. The wild thing is that this camp changed the world, and nobody knows this story. Barack e Michelle Obama atuam como produtores executivos sob a bandeira da Higher Ground Productions. In April 1977, Heumann . So, the fact that he was saying, "This may be connected to the Civil Rights Movement, this profound experience of liberation that I and my friends had," was really intriguing. I want to thank both of you so very much for joining us today and for helping introduce our audience to "Crip Camp.". MS. NEWNHAM: They were really interested in sort of like--President Obama himself was really interested in the process of how did the actual legislation come about, you know. Their first, the Oscar-winning American Factory (which they played no role in developing), was dramatically more tangled. But the story of this group of people who went to this camp in the '70s and how that community blossomed into what we know of as the disability rights movement. [20], Last edited on 12 February 2023, at 01:58, Alfred I. duPontColumbia University Award, List of original films distributed by Netflix, "An Obamas-Produced Doc Takes Viewers Inside the Birth of the Disability Rights Movement", "Crip Camp review rousing Netflix documentary traces disability rights movement", "Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution Reviews", "The disability community has a lot to teach a world in crisis, say the directors of Crip Camp", "Sundance Unveils Female-Powered Lineup Featuring Taylor Swift, Gloria Steinem, Abortion Road Trip Drama", "Film academy considers Oscar eligibility rules change with coronavirus theater closings", "Review: Netflix's 'Crip Camp' chronicles the birth of the disability rights movement", "Crip Camp Is the Kind of Inspiration We Need Right Now", "Netflix's Crip Camp is a different kind of summer camp movie", "In 'Crip Camp,' a rare spotlight for disability rights", "Sundance Winners: 'Minari' and 'Boys State' Take Top Honors", "IDA Documentary Awards 2021 Winners List in Full", "Diane Warren & James Newton Howard Among Top Winners at 2021 Hollywood Music in Media Awards", CRIP CAMP wins Best Documentary at the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards on official YouTube channel, "Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always,' 'Minari,' 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,' 'Nomadland' Top Nominations", 2021 Oscars Nominations: The Full List of Nominees - Variety, Crip Camp - Netflix | 2021 duPont-Columbia Awards Ceremony on YouTube by Columbia Journalism School on YouTube, 2021 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award Winners Announced Tonight|Columbia Journalism School, "2020 Austin Film Critics Association Award Nominations", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crip_Camp&oldid=1138866250, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 01:58. 14 hard-standing pitches for motor home. And I said, sign me up! As arts correspondent he has profiled many of the world's leading writers, musicians, actors and other artists. In Crip Camp, the narrative is of overcoming the suffering caused by a society that refuses to include us in everyday life. So, then I got lucky enough one day that Jim decided to pitch me on, you know, trying to make films about disability from that point of view and films that would authentically relate experience. The problem is, because the disabled landscape on film and TV remains heavily skewed towards white men, and disabilities remain aesthetically relatable to the able-bodied, "Crip Camp . And the idea was to try very hard to kind of go back and find those seminal moments that connected through these characters that you meet as a band of friends in summer camp. Previously, many young people with disabilities had been excluded from normal childhood experiences. (The film is also directed by Nicole Newnham.) [19] Jake Coyle writing for The Washington Post wrote, "[the film] has a specific starting point but it unfolds as a broader chronicle of a decades-long fight for civil rightsone that has received less attention than other 20th century struggles for equity". Nicole, you have been making nonfiction films for 25 years. And at that point we had a name of an organization. And all of a sudden, because of the pandemic, and everybody needs it, it's possible. Camp Jened, a ramshackle camp for the handicapped (a term no longer used) in the Catskills, exploded those confines. Summaries. That was one thing. And he immediately thought, because we were really early on in our process--we had the story mapped out and we had a fundraising trailer and we were finding footage and starting to assemble it--you know, he thought this could be perfect for them, because of the sort of shared values between the Obamas and our project, this idea of the importance of grassroots organizing, the capacity for young people to change the world, the idea that this is elevating a story from a marginalized community that needs to be told. Crip Camp is particularly eye opening in its first act. Crip Camp shares with insight, clarity, humor, and beauty the experiences of one group of disabled young people and their journey to activism and adulthood, and in doing so, provides an opportunity for all to delve into the rich and complicated history of disability activism, culture, and history. The fact of the matter is, is that because you may not see us working side by side on a set or in front of the camera doesn't mean we don't exist. That said, it will probably please older viewers who grew up with Bob Dylan, Neil Young and the Grateful Dead. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics Jeffrey Brown I dont remember the first time I met Judy Heumann, but Ive only ever known her as an omnipresent elder statesman of the disability rights movement. MS. HORNADAY: And to our Washington Post Live audience, please tune in tomorrow when we will have a conversation with actor, playwright, and director, Colman Domingo about his recent role in Ma Raineys Black Bottom, and that will be hosted by my colleague, Jonathan Capehart. The possibility of a better world at Camp Jened inspired the political change that followed; political change that involved, among other things, the anti-war movement, the Black Panthers and a group of Americans crawling out of wheelchairs and up the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Part of the revolutionary hippie spirit revolved around sexual freedom, and its not at all surprising that extended to the disabled teenagers at Camp Jened. Edit. At Camp Jened, the campers had seen what could be. To be clear, justice has not yet been achieved. You have made a film about children in Calcutta seizing their own futures. "We decided we were going to sit down in the street and we were going to stop traffic," she says in the film. Watch trailers & learn more. The Wagner opera returns to the Met for the first time in 17 years. [1], Crip Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020, where it won the Audience Award. On March 25 Netflix released Crip Camp, a documentary that dives into the wild lives of disabled teens who grapple with isolation, find love at a summer camp, build community, and grow into fierce advocates for equality. Thread us through that journey for you. Power, not pity is a longtime disability rights slogan encapsulated by the spirit of Camp Jened. It features interviews with former campers and counselors. While it is uplifting and educational, it is also a much hornier movie than one might expect from producers Barack and Michelle Obama. [12], On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 99 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. Some still arent. JOIN NOW For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.