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Join the Disabilities Network of NYC and the NYU Council for the Study of Disability on Monday, April 6 for a screening and discussion of the film adaptation of William Horwood’s beloved coming-of-age novel based on his relationship with his daughter, who has cerebral palsy. Before Harry Potter, there was Skallagrigg! Skallagrigg is a timeless tale of search and discovery with a disability twist: A true "lost classic" of disability cinema with its own mythology as beloved as LORD OF THE RINGS.
In the dark days of our unenlightened past, disabled people were openly treated with inhuman brutality. And so a legend was born of a mysterious force to protect them: Skallagrigg…
Combining an even-handed mix of non-disabled and disabled actors, both professional and non-professional, Skallagrigg intertwines the life of Arthur, who has cerebral palsy, with the similarly disabled Esther (Kerry Noble) and her quest to track down the eponymous urban legend. Through various accounts, Esther learns about Arthur, who as a young boy in the 1930's was sent away by his parents to an asylum. Victimised and abused by caregivers, Arthur summons his protector Skallagrigg to help him through his darkest moments.
Despite what might at first appear to be a bleak premise, the refreshingly irreverent tone of Skallagrigg is established early and continues throughout the film. When Esther's father tells a group of disabled adolescents in the back of his van “I used to think disabled people were ennobled by suffering”, they respond with raccous laughter and loud guffaws. The scene is typical of the film’s refreshingly realistic and unsentimental attitude that, in turn, helps validate its sense of optimism.
In the dark days of our unenlightened past, disabled people were openly treated with inhuman brutality. And so a legend was born of a mysterious force to protect them: Skallagrigg…
Combining an even-handed mix of non-disabled and disabled actors, both professional and non-professional, Skallagrigg intertwines the life of Arthur, who has cerebral palsy, with the similarly disabled Esther (Kerry Noble) and her quest to track down the eponymous urban legend. Through various accounts, Esther learns about Arthur, who as a young boy in the 1930's was sent away by his parents to an asylum. Victimised and abused by caregivers, Arthur summons his protector Skallagrigg to help him through his darkest moments.
Despite what might at first appear to be a bleak premise, the refreshingly irreverent tone of Skallagrigg is established early and continues throughout the film. When Esther's father tells a group of disabled adolescents in the back of his van “I used to think disabled people were ennobled by suffering”, they respond with raccous laughter and loud guffaws. The scene is typical of the film’s refreshingly realistic and unsentimental attitude that, in turn, helps validate its sense of optimism.
Deservedly winning a BAFTA (the British equivilent of an EMMY award) for best single drama in 1995, Skallagrigg never allows its characters to sink to disability stereotypes. Ballsy, independent and full of witty sardonic humor, the characters brought to life in Skallagrigg are real people; tough but also tender.
Never shown in the United States and never released on DVD, don't miss your chance to see SKALLAGRIGG on the big screen, only at disTHIS! on Monday, April 6!
ABOUT US: The disTHIS! Film Series: disability through a whole new lens, a program of the Disabilities Network of New York City, began in April 2006 to showcase festival quality, cutting edge short, documentary, feature and experimental films that offer ground-breaking interpretations of the disability experience beyond "movie of the week" cliches.
Never shown in the United States and never released on DVD, don't miss your chance to see SKALLAGRIGG on the big screen, only at disTHIS! on Monday, April 6!
ABOUT US: The disTHIS! Film Series: disability through a whole new lens, a program of the Disabilities Network of New York City, began in April 2006 to showcase festival quality, cutting edge short, documentary, feature and experimental films that offer ground-breaking interpretations of the disability experience beyond "movie of the week" cliches.
Acclaimed by film lovers with and without disabilities, disTHIS! has been featured in Disability Studies Quarterly, the Tribeca Trib, the New York Nonprofit Press, Able News and the New York Times Sunday Style section (above the fold!) for presenting quality disability cinema with the promise of "No handkerchief necessary, no heroism required!" disTHIS! films are frequently funny (and meant to be), remarkably sexy (just like our audiences), often controversial (because we like that sort of thing). Always provocative; never quite what audiences expect. Monthly screenings are followed by audience “talk-backs” and regular appearances by filmmakers, actors and other guests. ASL available upon request. Audio description available beginning Fall 2009.
Beginning in February 2009, disTHIS! partnered with New York University's Council for the Study of Disability to present screenings at NYU. We are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the generous support of the United Way of New York City, the Fund for the City of New York, Union Square Awards, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the Screen Actors Guild, the NYU Community Fund, Bat Entertainment and our members.
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