Sunday, March 2nd
6:45 PM
US NAVAL HERITAGE CENTER
$25 IN ADVANCE HERE OR $28 AT THE DOOR.
Includes closing night film, concert and awards party
Six Crystals: conversations with angels
Directed by Natalie Johnson
(USA/2015/11mins)
The world of Crystal, a non-verbal disabled adult, as perceived by her mother Johnson, the filmmaker.
From an article in the Leesburg Today:
“Johnson was a young, first-time mother living in Arkansas when Crystal was born in 1982. When Crystal was 10 months old, she began having frequent seizures and was diagnosed with infantile spasms, a dangerous and potentially fatal condition. The resulting brain damage left her intellectually disabled and unable to speak.
The film touches on the issue of placement of people with disabilities, including footage of reporting on the notorious Willowbrook scandal, in which a state-run institution for the intellectually disabled in New York was called out in 1972 by politicians and the press for inhumane conditions (including reporting from a very young Geraldo Rivera).
“It’s a bit of an advocacy piece as well,” Johnson said. But the work is most importantly a personal essay—a depiction of what life might feel like for the nonverbal Crystal, and Johnson’s expression of her attempts to put herself in Crystal’s shoes. The film follows Crystal through her day, leading up to her mysterious conversations with invisible interlocutors. For Johnson, Crystal was an obvious subject for her first film.”
Screens with the accompanying feature:
EYE OF THE hurricane
USA and Ireland / 2015 / 95mins
Directed by Steven Flynn
A story of self-discovery as the filmmaker documents the work of revered American folk singer/songwriter David Wilcox and the healing power of his music.
