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[ Music ]
>> [Background Music] San Francisco are you ready?
[ Music and Cheering ]
I said, are you ready?
[ Music and Cheering ]
Because we're about to defy convention.
Polite society would tell you that you should take the dis
out of disability but here,
tonight in the Women's Center we're going to get dissed.
[Cheering].
So I want to thank the organizers, The Light House
for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Give it up!
[Cheering and applause] Give it up!
That's better.
The Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability,
at San Francisco State University.
Now, Super Fest has a long illustrious history both
within film festivals and with disability arts and culture.
For years, for decades, for over a century now in cinema,
they have been doing disability about us but not with us.
Right? Disability without us.
They have taken their notions of what disability is,
what they consider it to be, what they fear it might be.
What their hopes are for what we should be and putting
that up on the silver screen.
But tonight, over a century
after Thomas Edison did the fake beggar in 1898,
one of the first films 52 seconds long had a guy sitting
on a street corner, supposedly legless
with a sign begging for money.
You know? As we do.
And the coin that gets tossed into his cup misses
and by impulse he jumps up to grab the coin.
Ah, the secret is revealed.
He's a charlatan.
He's a scammer.
Right? He's working the system.
Have you seen 60 Minutes lately?
>> Yeah.
>> It's all the rage.
This American life it's talking about,
it's the Thomas Edison first put that out there in 1898.
And then, without our know how, without our consent they said,
"Yeah, that notion is what disability is."
Tonight, October 12th, in San Francisco we take it back.
This is ours.
>> How are you guys tonight?
>> I'm good.
I'm good.
>> It's great.
Very excited.
There's never been anything like this and it's so --
what a good [background talking] crowd already
and we're really eager and excited.
>> Thank you for coming out tonight.
>> Oh yeah, wouldn't miss it.
>> But what brings you out?
>> Well I -- I work in the film industry actually.
>> Okay.
>> So going to an event that really is kind of looking
at disability in films really important to me.
And Lawrence Carter Long who's going to become part
of the commentary tonight, I've known him for a few years
and so any chance to see him when he's
on the west coast I want to come out and see him.
>> Was there anything about this event
in particular that's different from a lot
of the other disability film [inaudible] you've done?
>> Yeah, I think, you know, Super Fest has a long history.
Right? It was the first in the United States to sort
of say we're going to take this, we're going to claim this,
we're going to show it form our perspective.
It's great to see what the muscle of The Light House,
and the Longmore Institute, that it's going to be continuing.
That it's going to be moving into sort
of that next gen. That's next era.
You know, I think bigger, badder, stronger than ever.
And really taking its place where it needs to be among,
you know, the variety
of disability film festivals that are out there.
There need to be more of us everywhere.
And I think there's room for many different perspectives
but we can never loose sight
of disabled people doing it for themselves.
You know, and reclaiming that spot
and really giving it the attention,
what our own experiences bring to that,
what our own scholarship brings to that and pointing
that lens back, turning that back around.
We always need to keep that in mind and we --
I think it always needs its place in the center of any
of the work that we do.
Nothing holds that like Super Fest so I'm pleased
to see it moving forward.
You know for all of that time Hollywood has tried
to take disability and shoehorn it
into these little limited categories.
Right? We're tragic.
Get out your handkerchiefs [laughter].
We're heroic.
Cue the wacky music.
Right? We're inspirational.
Now I don't -- oh, exactly [laughter].
This is audience participation.
Please [laughter].
And I don't know about you
but being inspirational all the time is damn
exhausting [laughter].
Sometimes I just want to go to the store
and get my beer [laughter].
Why do I have to explain
to you why I walk this way, how I walk this way?
How I had to climb every mountain
in order to get to the store.
Sometimes I just want to drink [laughter].
So tonight we take what they think we're about,
and we put it back in their faces.
We've got seven categories.
Span the history of disability in cinema.
But before we get into the program itself I know
that Corbin O'Toole has been out there stomping her feet,
screaming, yelling, haranguing, bugging, annoying,
trying to say forever that we need
to take Hollywood on on it's own terms.
Super Fest was shepherded for decades by culture,
disability talent and we're moving into the new era.
Right? The next stage, the next generation of Super Fest
and to hand off to the ceremonial passing
of the torch [laughter], Corbin O'Toole is going
to hand it off to Brian and Cathy.
So let's take care of that.
Don't drop the candy.
I want some of those.
[Kissing noises] Okay.
>> Why are you doing Super Fest [inaudible] this year?
>> We [background talking] decided --
we took it over from the -- the previous organizers.
They were looking to turn it over to somebody new
so we decided well, what can we do to make it edgy and --
and fun and kind of change film viewing?
There's a lot of film festivals out there now.
People go and they quietly sit in their little chairs
and they watch a film.
And we thought well what would it be
like to really get an interactive film experience
and you bring in audio description of --
of films so blind people can benefit.
But you'll see tonight the audio description is going
to be very different than the usual fare.
We've built it all in to the program
and so everybody can enjoy it.
>> What about the audio description?
I mean I've actually had the chance to --
I hear audio description just like kind of films before...
>> Yeah.
>> ...and it's very monotone
and this is very different from that.
So...
>> This was so much fun.
It was edgy.
It was lighthearted and just had a familiar feeling.
All the other stuff sounds
like you're watching public television
and you're hearing some official biography.
And this is how people really think and talk.
I think it will set a standard for how we really want
to be described or how a friend might describe a video
or a movie that you're seeing.
>> CVTV was wonderfully innovative, brought Super Fest
to the Bay Area in 1998.
It was -- it's been a wonderful run that we've had
with showing different films from people who we're talking
about disability and thinking about disability.
And presenting ourselves for ourselves
and that had not happened before Super Fest.
The time has come for us to pass this wonderful torch
to the next generation of leaders who are going
to bring Super Fest where it needs to go next.
So we want to thank very much The Light house,
and thank very much the Longmore Institute.
And I am passing you this wonderful erupting [laughter]
symbol of abundance [applause and cheering].
>> All right.
>> [Cheering and applause] Can you tell me
about past experiences of Super Fest that you've went to?
>> It's been -- it's been a while since I've been to one
but I've been twice and I loved it each time.
It was just whole series of movies
that are disability related.
Yeah, it's great.
In fact I even met one of the -- I even met a woman I saw in one
of them at a -- at a party
so that was really exciting [laughter].
>> Oh, that's fun.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> Why was this so important and to the do the [inaudible]?
>> Well we're really looking forward to getting back
to the good films next year.
But this year we wanted
to do something -- something different.
Something that takes time to notice
that even though things are getting better we still have a
really long way to go, and there's still a lot of --
you know, I -- I was the main person who accepted nominees
from the community and I received so many nominees
from people who said, you know, this film --
I saw it when I was a kid and I thought
so that's what I'm supposed to be like.
That's what I'm supposed to be if I'm blind,
if I'm in a wheelchair.
And you know that causes a lot of harm still and so yes we want
to celebrate the good.
But we needed to take a year to --
to talk about the bad in order to --
to do something productive with it.
To be empowered by, you know, shouting back at these films
and -- and -- and letting them know
that they're not on the right track.
>> If you look and you'll definitely see it obvious here
tonight, that the history of disability in cinema has tended
to be sappy, safe and sentimental.
Anytime that a movie about disability came
out you could pretty much rest assured
that that's what it was going to be.
It would fit into those limited parameters.
You would have your tragic disabled character
who had some fate befall them in life.
You would have your heroic disabled character who had risen
above that tragedy, or you would have maybe a monster.
Right? A phantom from the opera.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame or -- or anyone of those characters
who were outside of society.
Those were safe bets.
And as people saw those depictions
of disability reinforced over, and over, and over again,
they moved out of the realm of fantasy and into people's minds
because they didn't see anything else.
Think about it.
A lot of us were in institutions at that time.
Right? We weren't out in the public eye
so the only way people knew anything
about disability was what came into their houses or what came
into the theater that they went to.
So you first see the disabled monster, the outsider
and then you see it again.
And then you see basically every film that Ron Cheney ever made
and you begin to think, God,
those people are scary [laughter].
Right? But then some would try to be sympathetic
and they'd turn that back around and so,
you'd get Charlie Chaplain trying to do something
like City Lights and The Blind Girl.
Right? So you have some sympathy.
Ah, she's blind.
That's too bad.
Isn't Charlie sweet?
Right? And then you get those that'll overcome.
And so we wanted to circumvent that.
We wanted to sort of put that in people's faces.
Sort of taking a page from Super Fest and so the way I talk
about it was no handkerchief necessary, no heroism required.
And I had a guy from the Hollywood Reporter say to me,
"Well, what do you show then [laughter]?"
I won't say his name but it's a direct quote.
I swear. And I said, "Exactly."
That's why we need to exist and that's why we're here tonight
at Super Fest to the Dissy's.
>> I think this is going in a new direction.
I think this film festival is taking it in a new direction.
Obviously, irreverent, hopefully not irrelevant.
Irreverent.
And what I think is going to be really unique about what comes
out of this is that we will learn how to be an audience.
We will learn how to be media literate in a different way.
Or relearn.
I think that small groups know how to do it.
Friends get together and they talk back to the television
or -- or, you know, private showings.
Something like that of a film.
That's what's exciting to me.
>> What are the Dissy's about?
Well I think we're here to discern, to pick apart.
We're here to distinguish what's real and what's false.
We're here to disrupt notions about what they expect us to be.
We're here to put on display our notions, our reality, our truth,
our experience about disability.
>> Way back in the '20s and before that, you know,
there were more disabled actors.
You know, people with -- performers with disabilities
who were cast as disabled characters and for --
for whatever reason, you know, the Hayes Code,
that sort of tapered off
and there was a real conservative force in the --
in the film industry that sort of,
you know, put a damper on that.
People weren't getting the kind of roles that they had been
so it's good to see that sort of finally come to a close
and people getting the roles that they need.
There's certainly disabled actors out there that are ready
to work and want to work and can bring so much to the roles.
So it's great to see that happening gain.
>> We're here to take it back.
Most of all we're here to discover.
To take a fresh look, listen, to what we think we already know.
Through a whole new lens so that we can cleanse the pallet a
little bit before we move forward.
So as we reclaim, as we reframe, as we rediscover
and take it all back, that's what the Dissy's is about.
It's community, it's homegrown, it's grassroots.
It's not somebody coming in from another city, another state,
another town saying, "We know what's best for you."
It's a no, no, no.
We were here first pal, and we're not going away.
This is ours.
It's tapping into that amazing arts and culture scene
in San Francisco and the Bay Area and that energy,
that knowledge base, that artistic talent,
that skill to manifest this, to move this baby forward.
It's a whole new way of looking, thinking, and watching film.
That's what the Dissy's is about.
>> The event is wonderful.
It's absolutely amazing.
For us to be able to get together like this.
And -- from an insider's perspective for us
who know each other, who know these films, know what's wrong
with them, to be able to point our fingers,
to make it known how we really feel without having
to hide those and pretend that we're somebody --
something other than what we are.
It's wonderful.
We get to be authentic crips here.
And that -- we don't get to do that very much.
A lot of times we have to be out in the world and pretend
to be -- oh, I just happen to be sitting in this wheelchair
but I'm just like everybody else, when I'm not just
like everybody else and here we get to be authentic.
And that's wonderful.
I just find it interesting
when people see the stereotypes
>>and that's why I am here.
>> We'll show the clips.
I'll say a little bit about each film,
just to give it a little context.
And then after we give it a little bit
of context here's what you get to do.
You get to scream.
I'll ask you to vote.
I'll say, for the first film.
Right? Second film, third film, fourth film.
So you get to scream, yell, throw popcorn, stomp your feet,
have a seizure [laughter], drool all over the person next to you.
Whatever you want to do.
Whatever your thing is.
We're going to ask you to do that to make yourself known
and then, our three very brave and inspirational judges
over there get the task of deciding among themselves
which category or which film
in the category is the winner, of a coveted Dissy.
They will bring that up to me and each person --
each because you know, some of these films were '30s
or the '40s, they've since moved on,
or for some reason the director did not want
to show up in person.
We know that they couldn't get past Ann [laughter].
She's been wanting to get her hands on them for a long time.
We've asked members of the community
to give the acceptance speech for them.
So members of the disability community, the arts
and cultural community here in the Bay Area,
will accept the award on their behalf,
and then we'll describe -- I want to describe the awards.
Can one of our Vanna's -- one of our Vanna's around here,
the folks that are helping out with the awards and --
and getting the microphones ready, they're --
we're calling lovingly our Vanna White's.
Can you bring me one of the statutes?
Thank you.
You got to improve with this stuff.
So I want to do a little description.
So elegant.
Everybody good -- give a hand [applause].
>> Thank you.
>> So, these very special one
of a kind statutes are golden bobble heads [laughter].
They're about four or five inches tall and they're shaped
as Timmy from South Park.
Talk about reclaiming right?
I'm taking it back.
So each of the Timmy!
Everybody let's give me a Timmy.
Timmy!
>> Timmy!
>> All right.
So the winner's of a coveted Dissy will get their very own
Dissy Award.
Thank you very kindly.
And [applause and cheering] --
so let's break it down to the categories.
I asked before, San Francisco are you ready?
Are you ready Then let's go ready to get dissed.
Our first category -- this was hard to decide on --
the worst, absolute worse portrayal of a disability
by a non-disabled actor [laughter].
Some things to think about.
You ever notice -- I feel I'm Andy Rooney all
of a sudden [laughter].
Did you ever notice how many Oscar's and awards go
to non-disabled actors who play these parts?
Right? Boo!
Let's hear a boo.
Boo!
>> Boo!
>> They get to crip it up.
Right? Crip it up.
Put on their crip face and then they walk away with the statue.
Right? And so with these clips -- and let me tell you what,
these are really tough to narrow down.
I think what we're going
to do is we're going to show them first.
We got three films for ya.
The first -- and I just want
to gauge your reactions before we show the clips.
You ready?
You ready for these?
All right, let's give it the energy.
The first film Glen Close -- can you guess?
Can you guess?
Fatal Attraction [whistling].
Oh come, you can do better than that.
Glen Close, Fatal Attraction [cheering].
Boo. From 1987.
All right?
The second film Richard Pryor who became part of the family
at some point there before his death [laughter].
Gene Wilder.
See No Evil Heat No Evil from 1989.
Come on, give it up, give it up,
give it up [cheering and whistling].
And last, but definitely not least just so we're not picking
on the '80s, Gene Hackman in Young Frankenstein [whistling].
I caught myself.
Mel Brooks.
So, the clips please.
>> The dog licks pooled water by his paw.
Dan looks up, duh [laughter], overacting Alex raises
up the hand holding the knife to her forehead.
[Background conversation] While he waves his hands
in Pryor's face.
You really blind?
Yes, I'm really blind man.
He moves the ladle back and forth.
The monster tries to follow it with the bowl.
The soup pours in the monster's lap.
>> All right, judges you're conferring?
All right, then.
[ Singing ]
This is the exciting part.
So, [laughter] the first -- yes?
>> [Inaudible response].
>> Okay, you're writing.
Have you made your decision?
>> We've made our decision.
>> All right.
Can you bring me the decision please.
Give me a drum roll, people stomp, yell, holler, scream.
[Cheering] Build that anticipation [screaming].
And, your winner is Gene Hackman,
Young Frankenstein [applause].
Let's hear a boo, a big boo.
Boo!
>> Boo!
>> Accepting the award for Gene
who sadly could not be here this evening is Georgina [inaudible],
author of Sight Unseen and UC Berkley lecturer.
Georgina? Can you join us up front?
[ Cheering and Applause ]
Can our Vanna's be with Georgina there?
Bring the Dissy [laughter].
This is a moment in history.
The first Dissy.
>> Thank you.
Well, thank you, thank you Lawrence
and thank you judges [laughter], and thanks to all of you,
the glittering, glamorous crowd here tonight.
I -- I invite you all to turn to the people sitting next to you
and tell them how fabulous they look [laughter].
Yes? Thank you.
[Laughter] Thank you.
You look fabulous.
[Background talking] So do you.
>> So do you.
>> Oh here, thank you.
>> If you're blind you can feel their faces.
>> You can feel their faces [laughter].
And their garments [laughter].
I'm very honored to accept this -- this first Dissy ever.
>> Wooo!
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> Is he -- is he bobbling?
>> He's bobbling.
>> Okay.
>> Can we all have a -- wait let's set this up.
One, two, three.
Timmy [laughter]!
>> All right.
Thank you.
This is the -- the biggest category, the worst performance
of disability by a non-disabled actor.
If I think of just the category
of sighted women playing blind women in the movies you think
of Jane Wyman, and Betty Davis,
and Audrey Hepburn, and Uma Thurman.
And who's that woman in Patch of Blue?
You know, all those...
>> Elizabeth.
>> Elizabeth something.
>> Somebody.
>> Yeah [laughter].
>> She faded into obscurity.
I wonder why.
>> Well what could she do after that?
But anyway, so many -- so many great performances not
nominated [laughter].
But it is -- it is a great [laughter] --
a personal honor to accept this award for Gene Hackman
who as it -- it's clear from his performance consulted
with many blind people [laughter] about their --
their daily lives and how they live them.
And demonstrated why it is no one wants to come
to our houses for soup [laughter].
Anyway, thanks -- thanks to you all.
I know that Gene will be thrilled, just thrilled
to have this award [laughter].
So thank you.
[ Applause and Cheering ]
>> Thank you.
Thank you Georgina.
Thank you to our Vanna's.
thank you very much.
So, another one of those things that kept popping
up as we were looking at the films and trying
to decide was this trope.
You know, trope is something that is heard so often,
seen so often, known so often, that becomes part
of the culture, part of the society and --
and we kept seeing over and over,
the story where the adorable perfect little white girl,
helps out the poor pathetic disabled person.
And gets away with it because of her cuteness.
Right? So in this category which we're calling "So sweet,
that they're not", we have Mary in the film The Secret Garden.
You know the book The Secret Garden?
Right? The film [cheering].
Yeah, woo!
Woo, woo. Okay [laughter].
Heidi, in Heidi.
>> Yeah.
>> So you already know that one.
You already give it up for that.
And Pollyanna in Pollyanna,
is she as clueless as she seems to be?
The clips.
>> Adorable white Mary sits on the pathetic boy's bed.
>> You feel real.
>> I am.
>> But there's nothing happy about a pair of crutches.
But we were glad we didn't have to use them.
>> Amen.
>> [Laughter].
>> She drags one foot and stands straight.
He father finally sees her as a human being.
>> By the way, how about that audio description?
>> Yeah.
>> So we're going to vote.
I want to say some things about "So sweet, that they're not".
I think I need a shot of like insulin
or something after -- after those.
So you had Mary in The Secret Garden.
Remember Mary?
She was the first clip.
Mary. Right?
This -- if you haven't seen it or read the book,
this was their first meeting.
Mary and Colin had never met before.
The boy spends all his time in bed moaning and groaning.
Fearing that he's going to look like Quasi Moto,
his father at the end of the day.
And he's -- he's, you know, you can see he's kind
of a spoiled brat because nobody calls him on his nonsense.
Right? He just keeps saying, "You know what?
I'm just going to go back to sleep."
Smart girl.
But what do you have here?
Right? You got that perfect adorable girl that's going
to call him out, and help him come to his senses.
Heidi. Oh Heidi [laughter].
Heidi, Heidi, Heidi.
Now this is 1930's.
I want to put this in context.
Shirley Temple, America's sweetheart.
No one cuter with the little ringlets.
Right? She even tap danced for God's sakes.
And what is Shirley Temple saying?
What is she saying?
She's saying, "If you only try hard enough you'll be able
to walk again."
Jerry Lewis.
We could have been rid of Jerry Lewis for 40 years [laughter]
if we had just known that.
Part of the wider cure or perish.
Right? You don't get just to be your disabled self.
Right? You're either going to drop dead
or some miraculous thing is going to cure you.
Right? Another thing that just --
I don't know if it's a disability thing necessarily,
but one of the things that gets me about that clip is just how
out of control cute that kid is [laughter].
She's too cute.
She's like so out of control cute
that you just -- you start to twitch.
You know? That it's really out of control there, over the top.
But that's -- right, that's what you're expected to be.
And to see that exemplified you then have Pollyanna.
Right? Don't look at the reality in front of you.
Crutches are not -- the thing that gets me,
the way that we talk in this country.
Right? Don't use that as a crutch.
Wait a minute.
What is a crutch for?
What is a crutch for?
Helps you walk.
If you didn't have the damn crutch.
>> You won't walk.
>> You won't walk.
So you think that a crutch would be pretty important.
Right? Your knee is a little weak.
Your ankle's feeling funky.
Use a damn crutch.
Right? But no, no.
you don't want to think about the crutch.
You don't want to use the crutch.
You got a sweet girl trying
to make the whole damn town happy again.
She's got the ringlets.
Right? Blond, blue eyes Pollyanna.
What does it say?
Don't think -- don't -- one of the things that happens over
and over in disability in film is disability unlike this room,
disability happens in isolation.
You're the one disabled person
in that whole damn town [laughter].
There's no other disabled person.
You don't have any friends with the same type of disability,
with the same condition.
You don't have your support groups.
You don't have your Super Fest.
You don't have your Longmore Institute, or your Lighthouse's.
you're stuck in the backroom
of that house somewhere, hidden away.
Right? And so it's up to the non-disabled cute kid
to show you the error of your ways.
So take it out of isolation.
Remember Super Fest, the power
of the Dissy is yours, and yours alone.
So who wins the coveted Dissy?
Is it dun, dun, dah, dun.
Mary in The Secret Garden?
Anybody? Come on, vote.
That's kind of weak.
All right.
Come on, you can do it.
You can do it [laughter].
Is it Heidi in Heidi?
[ Cheering and Applause ]
[Laughter] Oh hey, hey everybody up at the top.
How you doing?
Hello. Good to see you.
We actually sold out tonight.
Do you realize that?
[Applause] People are up at the top.
Or is it Pollyanna in Pollyanna?
Hailey Mills?
Anybody giving it up for Hailey Mills [cheering]?
All right, judges?
Can you confirm?
Is this -- is this -- could I make a judgment call
on this one?
>> [Inaudible response].
>> And the winner was Heidi.
Let's hear a rousing boo everybody.
One, two, three.
Boo!
>> Boo!
>> Beautiful.
So, accepting the award -- and this is a clear-cut winner,
our first of the evening I think.
Accepting the award on behalf of Shirley Temple-Black
who sadly could not be here this evening [laughter].
I think she's out doing something
with the UN, who knows.
Is Christina Mills, the Deputy Director
for the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers.
Christina.
She gets a yay!
She gets a yay!
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> Oh well thank you honey [laughter] so very much.
[Laughter] On behalf of all the little crippled children
in the world I just want to say thank you for [laughter
and cheering] awarding me tonight.
It is such a pleasure to be here with you and Lawrence
and all the furloughed federal employees [laughter].
Thank you, thank you.
And what would we do if there weren't such pathetic films
like that in the world to laugh about?
Right? Right?
>> Right?
>> Right.
>> But thank goodness we have programs
like youth organizing Disabled and Proud [applause].
We can teach youth to be disabled and proud.
Right?
>> Right [cheering].
>> Disabled and proud!
Disabled and proud.
>> Disabled and proud!
Disabled and proud!
Disabled and proud!
>> Thank you everybody.
Thank you [laughter] [applause].
[ Applause and Cheering ]
>> I'm so inspired [laughter].
The third category of the evening.
The amazing three.
The most amazing miracle [cheering].
Because as we saw with Heidi, if you really want it, really,
really, really want it you can have it.
Right now, think about how nefarious these --
these sort of tropes are.
If all you have to do is want it really hard you can walk.
You don't have to think about access.
If you try really hard and you walk then there's no need
for ramps.
Right? No need for braille because hey, if you really,
really think about it you can see.
Right? If you really want to bad enough you can hear.
You don't organize with other people.
You don't come together.
You don't say, "We demand what you non-disabled folks take
for granted."
Because it's all down to us, isn't it?
Right? It's not about society getting it right.
It's not about you including those you forgot
about in your able-bodied privilege,
your non-disabled privilege.
No, no, it's down to me because I have to really,
really, really want it.
And so exemplifying this [laughter] we're got
three films.
And again, these things could have been done
over and over again.
The nominees for the most amazing miracle are,
Forrest Gump [cheering].
Run Forrest, run.
Right? Oh, that clip.
Alan Mann in the film Monkey Shines.
Diane DePalma.
How many of you know Monkey Shines?
Prepare to be wowed.
It's unlike anything you've ever seen before or heard.
And -- I love this.
She's so great, it's such a miracle,
she doesn't even get a name.
The blind girl -- the blind girl,
that's all we need to know.
The blind girl in City Lights [cheering].
The most amazing miracle.
>> It's a miracle.
[Background Music] Free of the braces, he pumps his arms
and races down the road in perfect form.
He looks to his right then darts his eyes to the Monkey.
If only I could move.
Yes, I can see now.
Love really can cure blindness.
>> So what do we got?
Just to recap real quick.
Forrest Gump [cheering].
Now it -- now remember this --
this sort of revisits where we were with Heidi.
But to heighten the tension a little bit with it,
we have the gang of boys on bicycles and I --
you know, he doesn't even just walk, he runs.
The guy becomes Carl Lewis all of a sudden.
Oscar Bestorius.
He's booking down the road.
Right? So it's super inspirational.
So what do we say?
The next one?
Monkey Shines.
I'm not asking you to vote yet [cheering].
Oh man. I mean this film has a little bit of everything.
It's George Ramero, right?
Night of the Living Dead had something to do with this.
You've got -- okay, so you've got a service animal.
Right? And you've got [laughter] --
you could interpret that any damn way you please.
This is San Francisco [laughter].
You've got the syringe.
You've got the sweet music.
And if you've ever heard the phrase
"love bites" well now you know its true [laughter].
There's so much packed into that movie, if you haven't had enough
of Monkey Shines or you're not familiar
with it there's a music video -- I'm not going to say what song,
but just Google music video YouTube Monkey Shines and look
that thing up once you go home.
You'll -- you'll never forget it.
And the last film City Lights, the great Charlie Chaplain.
Right? Silent era [booing].
[Laughter] Now -- and you've got a character so important
that she doesn't even get a name and --
and she's been blind throughout this whole film.
Right? And you get to the very end
and she realizes -- oh, it's you.
[Inaudible] Charlie.
So, let's vote.
And I've been told -- I've been told --
you know, we've got three judges over here.
I didn't mention this before
because I didn't think t was significant.
But -- but in this crowd I think we're safe.
Our judges have a variety of different disabilities.
Physical, sensory, what have you.
And right now the folks who are making noise are getting a bit
of an edge.
All right?
So the folks with Cerebral Palsy or whatever.
You know? That are spasing it up quite enough.
Our deaf judge can't make sense of who you're voting for.
So you've got to really move so that we can make sure
that you're vote is counted in addition to being heard.
Okay? Remember that as we vote.
Remember you're being filmed.
[Laughter] This is being recorded forever.
The first in this category, the most amazing miracle.
Forrest Gump.
I think I know who's going to win this.
The second, Monkey Shines [cheering
and applause and whistling].
And the third, the blind girl in City Lights [cheering].
Judges?
>> [Inaudible response].
>> We have an official word?
Give me a drumroll stop.
Stomp, stomp.
Thank you.
Surprise, surprise.
The winner is Alan Mann in Monkey Shines.
[ Whistling and Cheering ]
[Laughter] Accepting the award --
sadly the monkey wouldn't be here
because the monkey's dead [laughter] --
is Joshua Mealy who's an associate scientist.
Of course we had to have a scientist
to receive this award --
at the Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute.
Joshua.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> There we go.
Thank you, than you so much.
It's such a pleasure.
I'd like to thank the members of the academy
and the judges [laughter] and the monkey's and all of that.
I do want to -- I do want to again, ask you to chive it
up for these crazy description.
Please everybody recognize
that this is not your grandmother's
description anymore.
[Cheering] In general -- thank you.
This -- this description was created by a description company
in L.A. that is owned and operated by blind people
who understand what it is we need from description.
They can create straight description, real like,
you know, TV ready description as well.
But this is -- this is a challenge and something
so exciting and delightful that they wanted to do.
Because the truth is that most description is vanilla
and there's this -- there's this idea
that you've got description.
There's the idea of impartiality in description.
And let me tell you something,
the description isn't necessarily
and inherently an act of editorialism.
It is always a judgment.
So you might as well stop pretending
that you're a reporter in the loveseat [laughter]
and just describe what you see
and describe it the way you want to describe it.
They've done an amazing job and thank you to Audio Eyes
and Greg Boggs who did this for us.
Thank you.
>> Woo!
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> Thank you so much.
So, you know, I -- I'm not really --
I shouldn't accept this award.
I met somebody just a bit earlier
who really should accept this because he came
up from Hollywood to be with us tonight and so I want
to introduce my -- my new --
my new friend Manny Zanasshole [laughter].
So just...
[ Laughter ]
I love you!
This is wonderful [laughter], I am so glad --
that guy Josh, let's hear it for Josh really.
Wonderful, wonderful [laughter].
Josh -- somebody help him down those stairs.
Step, step, step.
He was so great.
I saw him drinking a beer earlier
and he did not miss his mouth one time [laughter].
Amazing. Amazing.
You people are so inspirational I will say.
Ladies, gentlemen, blind people [laughter].
People in wheelchairs.
You funny talking people, everybody this is great.
I am so pleased to be here.
I love cripple [laughter].
I wasn't supposed -- they told me not to --
I forgot, you're differently crippled now [laughter].
I'm sorry.
I am sorry.
>> I think its people with crippleness.
>> I am really -- I am a huge fan though.
Love you, muah, muah.
And let me say that it is so great
that your mother's could dress you up and bring you
out tonight [laughter].
This is really special.
I -- I -- it is such an incredible honor for you
that I am here [laughter].
And I do want to say, I do want to say that I have been --
I have been a friend to the differently crippled
for a very long time [laughter].
I have been producing these movies.
I was a seventh producer on --
on the Monkey Shines movie that you just saw.
I produced the -- the DVD credits for another one
of these Forestish movies and I almost slept
with Glen Close one time [laughter].
And with the -- with the war --
with the U.S. at war we have made great stride
in the prostheses [laughter].
We have created all kinds of things that Hollywood is here
to support everybody who has prostheses and I [laughter] --
in fact just last week I had somebody on my casting couch
who had a pair of fabulous prostheses [laughter]
and we have really -- we are -- we are here to support everybody
with the crippledness.
So okay? And so I'm going to finish up and I just want
to say [laughter] that that guy Josh Mealy, you know,
I told him -- and this is why I'm a friend to the --
to the -- your -- your people.
Okay? [Laughter] I said to him, you know, because I understand
and he understands me obviously.
I said to him, "You know,
if I was you I think I'd kill myself [laughter]."
And he says to me, "You know,
I think if I was you I'd kill myself [laughter]."
So thank you very much.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> Ladies and gentlemen, Manny Zannasshole.
Thank you very much.
>> We love truth in advertising.
Don't we? That's great.
Thank you.
Thank you, Manny.
Thank you, Joshua.
So, speaking of killing yourself.
That's not a recommendation, that's not a suggestion.
It's the next category.
The most tragic -- aww.
Can we have an aww?
>> Aww.
>> The most tragic character with a disability.
What are we talking about here?
Well for this one there are so many within this category,
so many things which could apply for tragedy, right,
because you write your heroic or your tragedy.
There were four different options to choose from.
What do we have?
Well, 2005 Clint Eastwood made a movie about a boxer -- uh-oh.
Hey, I'm just the messenger.
Didn't tell anybody about the third act of this movie.
Right? That was the secret.
And I got to tell ya, Million Dollar Baby is the name
of the film and you'll see
in the clip why this is considered tragic.
Option two, Scent of a Woman.
Hoo ha! Al Pacino becoming a caricature of himself.
For your entertainment Mr. Holland's Opus.
Mr. Richard Dryfus.
And from the '70s, we can't forget the '70s,
The Other Side of the Mountain.
I'll talk a little bit more about them after the clips,
but check them out for yourself...
>> [Inaudible] the most tragic.
>> Remember what my daddy did for Axel?
>> The man frowns.
>> Do you understand?
I'm in the dark.
>> Pacino closes his useless eyes.
[Laughter] Like that's going to help.
>> He turned when I did that big smile.
He thought I was playing a game.
>> Iris...
>> I don't think he can hear.
>> Take it from a veteran gimp.
You got to see what you are
and say what you are before you'll be willing to work
with what little you've got left.
>> Audrey Joe gathers her crutches.
>> So, to recap real quickly what do we got?
Million Dollar Baby.
Boo.
>> Boo.
>> So as you might recall, that film caused a lot of controversy
when it came out in 2004, 2005 somewhere in there.
My first published movie review was sort of letter to an editor,
some paper in Australia somewhere was
about Million Dollar Baby.
If Clint Eastwood is to be thanked or maybe blamed
for anything it's about getting me
into doing disability rights work [cheering].
Yeah, give it up for that.
That's good [applause].
Because even though I'd had cerebral palsy my entire life
and I'd identified, I never was part of community.
And when I went to the movie theater
to see this film I saw it with, you know,
what seemed to be a non-disabled audience, every expected --
she's a boxer in that film and so you think you're going
to get Rocky in a sports bra.
Woohoo. Well, at the third act she gets sucker punched,
goes down, breaks her neck, bing, bam boom.
Right? She's better dead than disabled all of a sudden.
And the audience there that I saw the film with,
everybody except for me applauded at the end.
Now, if you haven't seen it I'm not saying you should subject
yourself to two hours of this stuff, but when she talks
about what her daddy did for Axel, Axel's the old dog
that they had and when Axel got too old they did an Old Yeller.
Right? And they put Axel down.
So she's asking Clint and his grizzled voice to put her
down like the old dog.
Right? Because she's better off that way.
Now what I wanted to say is I'm watching this.
Right? She's, oh I was born two pounds six ounces.
Well I was like hell, I was born two pounds and six ounces.
Right? You know, she talks about how she was in magazines.
I'm thinking, yeah Christopher Reeve was in friggin magazines.
Basically, the same injury.
Right? [Inaudible] people chanting her name.
Well people have been chanting Michael J. Fox's name for months
since they started talking about his show coming on the air.
I'm like, hey lady come on.
You can make it.
You don't have to put up with Clint Eastwood
forever [laughter].
Right? And so it puts her down.
Second film, Scent of a Woman.
Because you know, blind people smell better
than everybody else.
Says what women smell like.
I'm not going to go there.
I didn't just -- okay [laughter].
So Al Pacino's blind.
Chris O'Donnel is his caregiver.
This is before O'Donnel had done this awful Batman movie.
And the dialog pretty much speaks for itself.
Right? Pacino thinks his life is over.
He's in the dark here.
The dark [laughter]!
Manny's back.
Right? And so he needs Chris O'Donnel to sort
of snap him to his senses.
Mr. Holland's Opus.
What the clip doesn't tell you is
that Richard Dryfus' character is a music teacher.
So to add to the pathos of the whole thing right?
You've got a music teacher who's child is deaf.
Let's have an aww.
>> Aww.
>> So it's going over the top.
The camera's panning to the boy.
It's staying on the boy.
Cute little boy.
You know, which is -- if it was an ugly kid you wouldn't care.
Right? It's a cute little kid so that really adds to the tragedy.
Ratchets it up.
And then you've got the Other Side of the Mountain.
You know? Got an athlete.
Again, another athlete.
I don't think we would have Million Dollar Baby
if we hadn't had Other Side of the Mountain.
Woopee. So coming to terms with her new identity,
she's even got a crip.
Right? Telling her what the story is, what the scope is.
She doesn't want to hear it.
Right [laughter]?
Right. So, now it's up to you.
Are you ready?
The big -- what's this?
The most tragic.
Is it [noises] Million Dollar Baby [cheering]?
I didn't see you shaking around out there.
Remember -- let's be completely accessible.
Scent of a Woman [cheering]?
Mr. Holland's Opus?
Oh man, that was quick.
All right.
And The Other Side of the Mountain [cheering].
Woo. This is going to be tough.
All right.
So I think we can get rid of Mr. Holland's Opus.
I'm going to have to ask you again,
just to make sure it's clear to the judges.
We got three that we're pretty neck in neck by my --
by how much shaking around I saw.
So Million Dollar Baby.
If you really like it give it up.
[Cheering] Do it for Axel.
Scent of a Woman, and The Other Side
of the Mountain [cheering].
Woo. Judges?
>> [Inaudible response].
>> You have a decision.
That was quick.
All right.
And the winner is -- can we stomp?
Can we holler?
The winner is?
Dun, dun, dah.
I'm eager for this.
All right.
Thank you.
Couldn't happen to a better film.
Worst film, Million Dollar Baby.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
Sadly Hilary Swank could not be with us here today.
Neither could Clint Eastwood because he would fear
for his life [laughter].
Come on Clint, you're better dead than in a room full
of cripples [laughter].
Right? Accepting the award for Clint
and Hilary is Victor Panena.
Victor! A man for whom if it weren't
for him this would not have happened.
He's a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkley.
Take it away Victor.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> So Clint asked me to take this award [laughter].
Because he knew I was the most messed up crip he knew.
[Laughter] And he said, "Being the most tragic, most cripped
up person that I have ever met, you must represent me
to all those people and tell them to -- tell them --
tell them I'm sorry [laughter].
I'm sorry for making them realize how tragic they
really are.
I'm sorry for their inability to see and hear.
And I'm sorry for bringing up such difficult subjects that are
so hard to deal with [laughter]."
And I said, "Clint, I'm sorry that you're
such an idiot [laughter].
I'm sorry that you don't know how much life and --
and power there is on this side of the table.
I'm sorry that everybody that has these perspectives
of how unfulfilling my --
our lives are, I'm sorry that you're missing out.
And most importantly I'm sorry that you aren't able to see all
of the talent, and all of the strength, and all of the beauty
that we have to share.
And if you're not going to accept that then just go away."
That's what I wanted to tell him [applause].
>> Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
>> So -- so in any case being the most tragic,
the most pathetic person in this room,
than you so much [laughter].
Thank you for this honor.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> Timmy!
>> Thank you, thank you [laughter].
>> So, [laughter] and if Clint, you know, gets knee capped
at some point in the next couple
of weeks I had nothing to do with it.
I promise [laughter].
So, we're moving through the categories
and we've got the worst -- this is a tough one as well --
the worst disabled villain.
Right? Because if you're not the hero,
if you're not tragic, what happens?
I mean if you're -- you know, if you're tragic and you --
and you become bitter, right?
You become angry.
Then you become the bad guy.
Right? There's nowhere else for you to go.
If you're not going to be a hero then you got to be a villain.
Mr. Potter.
Right? You know, all of those characters.
Right? It's a Wonderful Life.
Not for Mr. Potter.
>> The Super Fest invitation.
>> Whoa. Keeping me on my toes.
So, the best villain.
How do you do that?
The worst villain.
How do you do that?
Well, here's what's significant about these categories.
It's not just the bad guy has a disability.
It's that the bad guy is a bad guy because of the disability.
The disability turned them that way.
So who do we have?
Pew in Treasure Island.
We got a blind pirate here.
You ready for that?
Eye patch.
Right? Dr. Strangelove.
Peter Seller's [cheering].
Right? Stanley Kubrick.
Mr. Glass in the film Unbreakable.
Now, the worst disabled villain.
>> [Inaudible].
>> Ironic Pew searches hands outstretched instead
of using a stick.
>> [Inaudible] and acquire the principles
of leadership and tradition.
>> Pounds the arm of his chair with his left hand.
The right flies up in the Nazi salute.
He strains then tugs the arm down.
>> [Inaudible].
>> I'm not a mistake.
>> David walks off.
>> It all makes sense.
>> The mistake continues his prattle.
>> The blind pirate.
Right? The last category we had Scent of a Woman.
What kind of sexist crap is that?
Now we got the scent -- what would the scent of Pew be?
The evil guy, the evil pirate who gets run over,
right at the beginning.
You don't even get to explore his character very much.
Dr. Strangelove.
There's a lot going on there.
Unpack that puppy.
Right?
So all of a sudden he starts telling his tale,
his vision for the future.
What the hell is going on there?
What is his disability anyway?
He's got some hospital issue piece of crap wheelchair.
Is it Tourette's?
Is it cerebral palsy?
What is going on with that arm?
Right? There's so many different things.
They don't even spell it out for you.
You know, you're supposed to get it out --
you find out he's a Nazi.
You know, he's talking about Eugenics, selective breeding.
What is the -- there's so many things to choose
from that make him such a bad guy.
And then Mr. Glass.
The irony here.
Mr. Glass, see he has osteogenesis imperfect.
Brittle bone disease.
Throughout the course
of the film Bruce Willis' character has been
in an accident and all of a sudden he can't be hurt at all.
He's in a plane crash.
All this stuff keeps happening.
Not a scratch on him.
Right? So why is Samuel *** Jackson so mad [laughter]?
It's because hey, he's not like that.
You need that point, counter point.
Right? The black and the white.
Oh, that's not obvious.
How much more blatant could this be?
Right? So they're there.
They're the polar opposites of each other
and then Bruce Willis' power in addition to being invincible is
that when he touches somebody he sees sort of their --
their greatest crime, they're worst crime.
So he realizes this guy that's supposedly his friend,
who he really is.
He's been betrayed.
You know that because the music started playing.
So, add it all up together.
Who is the worst villain?
Is it Pew from Treasure Island?
The archetype started it all.
[Inaudible] a little bit.
A few. I see Jim Labreck out there.
That's an honorable thing Jim.
Thank you.
Pew needed something.
Dr. Strangelove from Dr. Strangelove [cheering]?
It's a classic.
Stanley Kubrick, Peter Sellers.
All right.
Or is it in the comic book shop Mr. Glass
in Unbreakable [cheering]?
All right.
Let's break it down again.
Dr. Strangelove?
[Cheering] Shake, rattle and roll.
Mr. Glass?
[Cheering] The winner is just like this guy Dr. Strangelove.
And boo -- let's do that with some passion
and some conviction.
Dr. Strangelove.
Boo.
>> Boo.
>> Accepting the award on behalf of Peter Sellers
who couldn't be here because he's dead [laughter] is Reverend
Scott Raines.
Let's do it -- Scott.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
The rolling raines report.
As you could just tell.
[Inaudible] past.
Thank you.
Sorry. I'm looking for my pen.
>> The award, please.
>> The award, somebody give him the award.
He needs his prop.
He hands him the Timmy award.
See he's holding it in his right hand.
>> Gloved right hand.
>> Gloved right hand.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah, what's with that glove?
>> On behalf of all the villains
that have ever accurately portrayed us
in film [laughter] I would like to accept this award.
And I'd like to announce the after party
in the silo [laughter].
Where the relationship between male
and female might be slightly modified [laughter]
but we do have it for a 100 years.
>> Thank you sir.
Hope you appreciate your time out.
Enjoy yourself.
So, what do you got?
You got your heroes.
You got your villains.
You got your so sweet they're not.
But what we haven't seen yet --
and I think that's what reflective
of this night here tonight, this crowd here tonight,
the energy here tonight is -- are you ready?
Crips gone wild!
No Miley Cyrus did not break her foot.
[Inaudible].
Now there were a ton of nominees for this category.
Scenes where a disabled person is just a total buffoon.
Humiliating themselves, those they love.
Clueless about the mayhem that they're causing.
What are the films that we had to narrow this down to?
Well, you've got Carla in The Other Sister.
I think this is pretty straight forward,
you'll probably make it out for yourself.
You've got Radio in Radio.
And you've got Danny in Blind Dating.
The clips please.
>> Please don't do that.
[Inaudible].
>> Carla pants.
She's definitely on the spectrum [laughter].
>> [Inaudible] 24 black and reverse.
>> Okay.
>> That a good one coach.
That was a good one.
That was a good one right there.
>> Yeah, we'll see.
>> That was a good one [background talking].
>> From the sidelines Radio yells reverse.
>> Wait. Tell them the play.
>> Danny stops where he rehearsed, turns right and sits
at a table occupied by a Japanese couple.
Oops, still blind.
>> So, answering the eternal question who let the dogs out?
[Laughter] It was Carla in The Other Sister.
Right? And all the rich snooty people right, they're not acting
like these are chihuahuas or golden retrievers.
They're acting like they're mountain lions
or something the way they're hoping out of the way.
You got Radio.
It's the big game, the last game,
the big game of the season.
Right? Don't let the guy out of the institution for the day
because he's going to screw it for everybody.
He's going to ruin it for the whole team.
And Danny in Blind Dating.
What can you say?
Right? Don't get yourself a service animal.
Don't let the maitre'd know you're blind.
Don't -- you know, any of this stuff just fumble
around the darn room.
Why did the waiter fall?
No one knows?
None of this is explained [laughter].
So the crip and his crip,
the wildest of the wild, tons of nominees.
We narrowed it down to these three just for you.
Is it Carla in The Other Sister [cheering]?
Think about this film too.
You've got Juliet Lewis.
You've got Diane Keaton.
Right? They should know what they're doing [laughter].
Right? Radio.
Radio, Cuba Gooding Jr. Right?
What do you think?
[Cheering] Don't let the intellectually disabled guy near
the football team at all.
Or is it Danny in Blind Dating [cheering]?
Well, I think that was pretty clear but let's go
through the formalities here.
Judges?
>> [Inaudible response].
>> Yes? And your decision is?
>> We have a decision for us, Blind Dating.
>> Danny in Blind Dating.
Now accepting for Danny because he's never make it
into the room obviously [laughter]
without destroying the building is Jomi Wong, Executive Director
for the Center for Independent Living.
Thank you.
[ Cheering and Applause ]
>> I always wanted a Timmy.
So now I have one.
>> Can we all say it?
She said the magic word.
Are you ready?
>> Say Timmy.
>> One, two, three.
Timmy!
>> So I just wanted to be serious for a minute
because everybody's been a little bit funny
up here and it is funny.
It's nice to be in a room full of people who actually get it,
who we can laugh about these things and deconstruct
and critique at the same time.
And I want to thank The Lighthouse,
and the Paul Longmore Institute, and everybody who put
on this program that allows the space to be able to do this.
And I look forward to a day
when we actually have more serious films
that we can be proud of.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
We're doing that next year.
Don't worry.
So, we can't believe it.
Here we are, the end of the night.
We've got one more category [laughter].
I know it's sad.
Dry your tears.
What could that category be?
What is left to discover, to explore to dissect?
To dismember.
Well because this is an insider crowd and it's our turf,
and it's our rules, and we get to decide who wins
and who loses, it was very important that when, you know,
people try to come into our turf and show what's funny
and what's not funny they get it wrong often.
So we needed to remind them that hey, only we can laugh at that.
Which is this last category.
So there's bad taste disability humor where they got it wrong.
Very often they're uncreative.
They're lazy.
Laughing at disability.
Uninformed rather than with it.
Right? So what do we got in these clips?
Another film that caused an uproar when it was made.
This film I like to talk about, you know there was a huge --
there was a character -- it sort of spoofs or it attempts
to spoof Hollywood and the fact that Hollywood --
if you want to get an Oscar you portray a disabled character.
And there was a character that they ended up cutting
from the film played
by Ben Stiller called Simple Jack [laughter].
And that was Tropic Thunder.
Now they add -- in Robert Downey Junior's character
in this film was a white actor who wanted to, you know,
really embody his role so much that he got injections
and operations to become a black man.
Right? And there was a real live black man
who was calling him on it.
Every stupid thing that he did.
Quoting the Jefferson's.
You name it -- the real African American guy called him
out on it.
That was -- what the hell are you doing dude?
So in this, there's some other clips though.
Some other things in the film
that have been not dissected quite as much
because of the uproar over that.
And you'll see what they're doing
with developmental disability.
I like to call what happens in Tropic Thunder
because it's laughing at us, not with us, satirization
without representation.
Because unlike the African American character,
nobody asks the disabled community what we thought.
And this is the kind of nonsense that you got.
The second film tried to do it a little better.
It's questionable to whether or not it succeeded.
They got on board groups like Special Olympics.
But any film with Johnny Knoxville you know you're going
to have some trouble [laughter].
And this film is called The Ringer.
Right? So it's a guy pretending to have a disability
so that he can win a bet.
And the last, Waking Ned Devine.
One of those British comedies.
Right? We've got three clips spliced together
and we can maybe discuss it a little bit afterward
but I think it speaks for itself.
So, only we can laugh at that.
The clips please.
>> Yeah, I did.
>> It's like pistol whipping a blind kid.
I mean, I'm not going to sugar coat it Tug.
>> My name is Lance and I like nuts.
>> [Inaudible] in front of the mirror.
>> My name is Fossil and I can count the potatoe.
>> Please stop squeezing the bread, please.
>> [Inaudible] steal anyway.
>> It certainly is not a game and [inaudible].
>> Try to be an insider
but you're an outside and what happens?
Well, you get it wrong.
So what do you have?
What -- what -- before the fade out there
in Tropic Thunder you go to the photograph
and it's Matthew McConaughey's character sitting there
with a child who sort of is supposed
to obviously visibly be intellectually disabled,
you see.
They sort of have that same look on their face
that the Simple Jack character or the Forest Gump had
or all those other things you've seen before.
So that's the kind of gotcha in that film.
The Ringer right?
Laughing at, not laughing with.
There's a later scene in that film where you've got a bunch
of folks with actually intellectual disabilities
confronting him in the locker room.
Threatening to beat the stuffing out of him.
I like that one much better.
And Waking Ned Devine, you know, it's supposed to be one
of those Full Monty kind of lovely, you know, U.K. films.
But, again, you've got the evil disabled person.
Karma comes in at the end, and she gets hers.
So, who's it going to be?
Is it going to be Tropic Thunder?
[Cheering] All right.
This is our last category, so you really got to give it up.
The Ringer?
[Cheering] Or Waking Ned Devine?
[Cheering] All right, judge.
Do you have a clear-cut winner?
[Inaudible audience comment] And that is --
let's do a little drumroll here --
and the winner [drumroll sound effect]...and the winner is...
>> The winner is for The Ringer.
>> The Ringer!
[Cheering] Let's give it a big boo.
Boo! All right, so accepting the award on the behalf
of Johnny Knoxville -- and the Farrely Brothers, actually,
executive produced this thing, believe it
or not -- is Anthony Tusler.
Styling and profiling, coming up the ramp.
Disability consultant and advocate.
Seller of Crip Culture t-shirts.
I've got mine.
Anthony, accepting on behalf.
He gets his -- what you'd say -- he said it was his own what?
Timmy! Okay.
>> Better?
Much better.
I want to thank all of the disabled people
who have been the objects of humor throughout all the years.
And how wonderful it is that we can provide such inspiration
for both, tragedy as well as comedy.
And it is an enormous treat to have, not only my own Timmy,
but to be able to be here today and this evening.
And, really, to be a part of something
where the community gets together,
and we get to be ourselves, who we are.
And talk about what we are and who we are.
And, in the meantime, also, maybe make a dig or two
out there, the people of the world who stereotype us.
And put us in funny little boxes.
So, thank you all, everyone, and...
>> Thank you.
[Applause] Thank you.
So, did you have a good time?
[Cheering] Are you thrilled that Superfest is back?
[Cheering] All right, we got to do our thank yous.
Our thank yous.
All the community supporters, the people on the program.
The Superfest Committee, the people that brought me out here.
Brian Bashin, Emily Smith, Batix, Leonandis.
I got this wrong.
I was asked him before.
Leonandis Gimeshis.
Is that right?
Did I get it right?
All right.
Catherine Cutlick.
Cathy, thank you.
Jennifer Sax.
Alice Wilson.
Let's give a big hoohah.
Yes! Hoohah!
[Cheering] We want to thank our videographers.
Did you have something -- want to thank our videographers?
Oh, from the San Francisco State University Academic
Technology Department.
Notice, they're going to be back there.
See our paparazzi corner?
Our celebrity corner.
They're going to be videotaping people,
so make sure you stop by.
Our video editors.
Natalie Zeis-Bizong and Mike Chang, thank you.
[Cheering] All of our volunteers, thank you.
The Women's' Building, thank you.
And just a personal note.
Events like this don't happen in a vacuum.
And they don't happen without you.
You know, often, we, you know,
one of the slogans that's been sort of trumpeted around
and trotted around for a couple of decades now is,
"Nothing about us without us."
Right? That's one of the sort of maxims and slogans
of disability rights movement and advocacy.
Disability justice.
But I think that slogan assumes "nothing about us without us".
That there's things that are not about us.
Right? Some things are not about us.
But the beauty of Superfest is that we recognize that,
even if you're not disabled now, if you don't identify now.
Right? You might have a brother, a mother, a cousin,
a sister who becomes disabled.
And it impacts, not only the disabled person,
but the entire family.
So, I'm thinking, maybe, it's time that we start thinking
about "nothing without us, period".
Period. Right?
We're no longer standing outside the door.
"Please, sir, may I have some more?"
Right? Asking us, begging to let us in.
No. We're saying, "We're not asking you
to invite us to the table."
No, no, no, no, no.
We built this table.
We convened the meeting.
We invited you.
Right? So, all those decisions, everything that happens
in the world, that involves us.
It could be any of us at any time.
We make it happen.
We drive that engine.
So, you showing up tonight.
You coming back next year.
You letting the Lighthouse and the Longmore Institute know
that you support this work is vitally important.
Because, if you don't show up, it doesn't happen.
You know, I've had to sit through 230 movies, right?
And it -- at just this --
I would watch about 10 or 15 movies before I would pick one.
Do you know what does to a person?
[Laughter] It's frightening.
But tonight, with events like Superfest,
we get to make the rules.
We get to pick the crowd.
We get to call the shots and be the show.
So, my word of thanks is to you.
Thank you for showing up.
Thank you for being in here.
Thank you for doing for doing what you do because,
without that, none of this would happen.
And it was my honor.
[Cheering] Absolutely an honor and a privilege.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for coming tonight.
You know, somebody mentioned, they were looking forward
to a time when we're talking about films that we do like.
Right? Movies that we do like.
And we don't want to forget those.
But we thought it was important, as we reboot.
As we move forward.
To take a brief look back.
To understand why celebrating who got it right was important.
Because, until you see what's wrong,
you don't have that counterpoint.
You can't quite see, sometimes, what's right.
And know what's right.
So, [inaudible], we know what Hollywood has done.
People are doing it for themselves.
We're doing it for each other.
We're moving it forward into the next generation.
Your Super, Superfest is super.
Thank you very much.
Let's move it forward.
[Cheering] Thank you.