Filmmaker Reflects on High Profile Screenings of Lives Worth Living

Filmmaker Eric Neudel’s documentary, Lives Worth Living, follows one man’s struggle to survive after a spinal cord injury and his role in the earliest days of the Disability Rights Movement. Neudel followed up with BTB after his high profile screenings last week at the State Department and the UN.

On November 17^th we received a call from ITVS’ Dennis Palmieri.  He said that earlier that day both the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations had contacted him about screening our film, Lives Worth Living.  Wow – what a surprise that was!
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Tags: disability rights, eric neudel, Independent Lens, lives worth living

United Nations Screens Lives Worth Living for International Day of People with Disability

Eric Neudel’s historical documentary on the disability rights movement, which premiered on Independent Lens in October, screened Thursday at the State Department and on Friday at the UN.

In recognition of the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Human Rights Day, Special Advisor for International Disability Rights Judy Heumann hosted a screening and panel discussion of Lives Worth Living at the State Department on Thursday. The panel included a conversation with the film’s producers and activists featured in the film, including Special Advisor Heumann.
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Tags: disabilities, disability rights, eric neudel, international day of persons with dsabilities, lives worth living, state deparment, United Nations

Community Cinema Screens The Eyes of Me in Houston

Last night, Community Cinema hosted a screening of the Independent Lens film The Eyes of Me at HoustonPBS. The film follows four visually impaired teenagers in Texas as they face the usual challenges of adolescence while simultaneously learning to navigate a world designed for the sighted. Filmmaker Keith Maitland attended the screening and gives an overview of what happened and the impact the event below.

Patrick Floyd (left), the producer of The Eyes of Me, and Keith Maitland (right), the director, at the HoustonPBS Community Cinema Screening of their film.

Bernice Klepac, with the Houston Council for the Blind, talks about her experience as a student at Texas School for the Blind back in the 1950s.

With more than 125 audience members in attendance –– many of them blind or visually-impaired –– HoustonPBS hosted a wonderful Community Cinema screening of The Eyes of Me. It’s always exciting for me to be able to sit in a crowded theater and share the film with a new audience but there was something very special about this particular screening. Along with producer Patrick Floyd, I was happy to travel to Houston from Austin, Texas, to experience Community Cinema firsthand. Meagan McComic (one of the main characters from the film) and Bill Daugherty, superintendent of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI), joined Patrick and I on the panel after the film, to share their reflections and perspectives with the Houston community –– many of whom had ties to TTSBVI directly.

Two of the audience members were alumni of TSBVI –– Michael Garrett, class of ’69, and Bernice Klepak, class of ’55. It was exciting to hear Michael and Bernice’s response to the film, and the contrasts between their days at the school and the stories of Chas, Meagan, Denise, and Isaac represented in the film. Bernice was impressed with how honest and natural today’s students were compared to her days when she feels that they were all “pretty straight-laced.”

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Tags: blind, disability, disability rights, Texas, visually impaired

Open Call Recipient: Eric Neudel, Filmmaker of LIVES WORTH LIVING

ITVS funds, distributes and promotes new programs produced by independent producers primarily for public television and beyond.

Eric Neudel produced and directed LIVES WORTH LIVING, which looks at the life of Fred Fay, a quadriplegic, and the small group of activists who formed the Disability Rights Movement and Fay’s role.

Neudel received ITVS’s Open Call funding and in the clip below discusses how he first met Fay, how he hopes the film will have an impact and why he became a filmmaker.

Find more information about Open Call funding >>

Tags: disability rights, online video, Open Call