Director: Liz Crow
Producer:
Ann Pugh
Running Time: 50 Minutes
Space is wheelchair accessible. Film features on screen real-time sign language interpretation and the post-screeing discussion will be ASL interpreted.
COST:
FREE!
When:
Wednesday, January 3
Time:
6:30 to 9pm.
Screening starts promptly at 7pm.
Where:
DCTV @ The Firehouse
3rd Floor Screening Room
87 Lafayette Street (between Walker & White),
2 blocks South of the Canal Street Subway Station
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Previous Screenings
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As the commonly accepted story goes, Helen Keller, the legendary advocate for people with disabilities, was born in Alabama in 1880. At 19 months, Keller fell ill with 'acute congestion of the stomach and brain' possibly meningitis which left her deaf and blind. Five years later, her isolation ended when her teacher Annie Sullivan taught her the 'manual alphabet', tapping out letters on her hand. Keller eventually learned to read Braille, to write and even to speak. She gained admission to the prestigious Radcliffe College, where she wrote The Story of My Life. After graduating, Keller devoted her life to work on behalf of others who were blind and deaf.
That is the sanitized, and some would say, sanctioned telling of Keller's life. The real Helen Keller was much more complex:
She was a suffragist, a pacifist, and a birth control supporter, a free-thinker who rejected her teachers' methods, and a political radical. Keller also wrote books inspired by Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, introduced Akita dogs to the United States and was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Real Helen Keller, a documentary by disabled filmmakers Liz Crow and Ann Pugh chronicles these details and more. The film reveals the often hidden details of Keller's life and illuminates the life of a passionate woman who ranked on the FBI's wanted list for her political activism and radical views on feminism, race issues and civil rights.
This 50-minute biography made for the UK's Channel Four Real Lives series challenges Keller's widely misunderstood public image as the deaf-blind all American child who triumphed against nearly impossible odds - a fabrication later enshrined in the film, The Miracle Worker. Keller didn't choose this role and battled against her entire life. The documentary dares to go beyond comfortable mythology to reveal a deeper, more nuanced -- and often difficult -- individual.
Perhaps even more topical today than when it was produced given the continuing fight for civil liberties and war against dissent, The Real Helen Keller features fascinating material previously suppressed by the US authorities and the Keller family.
An audience discussion will follow the screening.
Screenings are free, but space is limited! Call 212.251.4092 to RSVP or email: Lawrence@dnnyc.net
The disTHIS! Film Series is made possible, in part, by generous support from the Christopher Reeve Foundation.
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