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The Gillian Film
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"Last week I showed the DVD to our special needs parent groups called, SPECIAL FAMILIES, in Hickory and the families loved it. There was not a dry eye in the room. We discussed the film afterwards and the parents shared that the story gives them so much hope for their children. We discussed how the focus was on all the things your daughter can do and does so well. Can she teach me how to dance like that?
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The Gillian Film is a moving portrait of an exceptional young woman who works at a local veterinary clinic, rides horses, takes dance classes, and is developmentally disabled. The film shares the difficulties and joys of both raising and being a person whose abilities are in constant and productive tension with her distinctive thought styles and cognitive capacities. Ultimately, however, through an examination of one life defined a different, The Gillian Film explores how we might transform our understanding of the meaning and worth of people with developmental disabilities. Appropriate for:
44 minutes • DVD • Closed
Captioned
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REVIEWS "Filmmaker Joanne Hershfields study of her developmentally disabled twentysomething daughter Gillian centers on the latter moving away from her family and into her first apartment. Home movie clips of Gillian as a young girl are interwoven with more recent footage of her tap dancing and attending drama class, enjoying herself at various parties and dances, and participating in the Special Olympics (her various sports include horse jumping and skiing). Gillian, who works as a veterinary assistant, stutters a bit and sometimes has trouble expressing herself, and one can understand her folks worry about their daughter being taken advantage of in the outside world, but some viewers are likely to be put off by Hershfields honest yet harsh asides regarding her vision of a dream daughter being pushed aside. Too, while Gillians positive attitude shines through, she visibly darkens at having a camera repeatedly shoved in her face (when asked about what shell miss about home, she answers pets first, then her parents). Sure to promote discussion, this alternately moving and provocative profile is recommended, overall. Aud: C, P." "The Gillian Film is a bold and courageous documentary: a personal and family narrative, a coming-of-age film, and a materialization of pressing themes in contemporary disability studies." "This film provides what we cannot learn from text books, the very real life of Gillian and her friends and family. The viewing of this truly remarkable film was an experience. I recommend this film to everyone." "I think that the film will help students to gain an appreciation for how much they are like people who have disabilities, and that it will help them to understand how families struggle to raise children who have special needs and how they must help them to become independent just like other parents do with their children." "The Gillian Film is a mothers-eye view of a 22-year-old with mild mental retardation as she is about to strike out on her own. Gillian responds to questions with the typical teen look, as though she sometimes wished the filmmaker had been someone other than her mom. But the intimacy makes the portrayal of a parents feelings ring true, and The Gillian Film has the immediacy of a home movie. You leave feeling the best is possible for this vibrant young woman and that her mother will survive as well."
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