TITLE: El Cochecito (The Little Coach) LENGTH: 90 Minutes LANGUAGE: Spanish with English Subtitles COLOR: Glorious Black and White DIRECTOR: Marco Ferreri SUGGESTED DONATION: $5 When: Wednesday, October 3rd Time: 6:30 to 10pm.  Screening starts promptly at 7pm. Where: DCTV @ The Firehouse 3rd Floor Screening Room 87 Lafayette St (between Walker & White) Closest subway stops: N/Q/R/W, J/M/Z, or 6 to Canal Street.  DCTV is located two blocks South of Canal Street in NYC. VIEW MAP Cost: $5 Suggested Donation The disTHIS! Film Series is a project of the Disabilities Network of NYC in association with DCTV. We are made possible, in part, by the generous support of The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

Previous Screenings

El Cochecito (The Little Coach) is "lost classic" from 1960 Spain. Discover this delicious dark comedy about an old man who decides his best way to freedom is to kill -- literally -- for a motorized wheelchair. Not because he needs one, but so he can ride through town with his rambunctious disabled friends.  

Don Anselmo, played most cunningly by Jose Isbert, wants to go buzzing around town with his disabled pal Don Lucas and join in his road races with other disabled locals. But there is a big problem, Don Anselmo isn't disabled and doesn't need one.  Since his wife's death, Anselmo has been drifting pointlessly about the big crowded apartment that serves as home for his extended family and offices for his son and son-in-law. For him, staying at home is just a way station to the cemetery, until it dawns on him that a motorized wheelchair may be just the solution he needs to break free.   Unlike most Hollywood films, in El Cochecito a motorized wheelchair promises freedom.  

When his family refuses to buy him one, Anselmo plots his revenge.  He methodically poisons his family one by one, using their tiny legacies to finance his purchase.   Despite the seemingly dark tone, Anselmo grows on you. The pleasures of the film lie in the vividness of the characters, never caricatures. The family members, grumpy Don Lucas, the bossy servant to a well-to-do member of the racing crew, the avuncular wheelchair salesman, the shrewd woman to whom Anselmo sells his late wife's jewels - they're all real people in real places.  

By the end, chuckles of recognition have grown into cheers for Anselmo's defiance. Audience sympathy is most definitely with the elder gent in this lost classic -- a timeless study of aging, loneliness, neglect and rebellion. Based on the novel El Cochecito by Rafael Azcona.
 
disTHIS! movies, talkback sessions and related events are open to the public. $5 suggested donation. This film is in native Spanish language with English subtitles. ASL interpretation available upon request. Space is wheelchair accessible. Snacks are provided and there is a cash bar for drinks, but recent screenings following articles in the Tribeca Trib, New York Nonprofit Press and the NY Times have filled our recent screenings to capacity. Don't Miss Out! Call 212.251.4040 to reserve YOUR seat or email: disthis@dnnyc.net

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