I Didn’t See you There | October 17, 2022 | 5:00 – 8:30 p.m. | Behavioral Science 131
This year’s The Symposium for Inclusive Excellence and CSU’s Thematic Year joins ACT for a special screening of the award-winning documentary film I Didn’t See You There. The evening event starts with a reception featuring heavy appetizers from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. The film program will begin at 6:00 p.m. and a panel of experts will respond to accessibility and disability themes shown in the film with local pertinence.
I Didn’t See You There will be screened in open captions and ASL interpreters will be present to assist during live spoken programming. Wheelchair seating is available. Accessible and all-gender bathrooms are located nearby. For parking and directions, please see here.
If you require audio descriptions, please email us at info@actfilmfest.org
About the film:
As a visibly disabled person, filmmaker Reid Davenport sets out to make a film about how he sees the world, from either his wheelchair or his two feet, without having to be seen himself.
The unexpected arrival of a circus tent outside his apartment in Oakland, CA leads him to consider the history and legacy of P.T. Barnum’s Freak Show and its lingering presence in his daily life in the form of gawking, lack of access, and other forms of ableism.
Informed by his position in space, lower to the ground, Davenport captures indelible images, often abstracted into shapes and patterns separate from their meaning. But the circus tent looms in the background, and is reverberated by tangible on-screen interruptions, from unsolicited offers of help to careless blocking of ramps. Personal and unflinching, I Didn’t See You There forces the viewer to confront the spectacle and invisibility of disability. Offering both a perspective and stylistic approach that are rarely seen, Reid brings an urgently needed storytelling eye to filmmaking with a documentary that is powerful and emotional, thoughtful and raw, intimate and political.
I Didn’t See You There, Reid Davenport, United States, English with Open Captions, 77 minutes
Panelists:
Dr. Michelle Jarman is Associate Professor of Disability Studies at the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities and the Associate Director of Gender and Women’s Studies at University of Wyoming.
Mike Deveraux , community member and activist
Wynne Whyman, Volunteer Chair, Let’s Loop Colorado
Moderator: Assistant Vice President of Inclusive Excellence Ria Vigil
