The First British Freak Show
I couldn’t blog on Friday about the BAFTAs’ open and publicised rejection of the documentary on DisAbility, The Last American Freak Show. One major reason for this was that when I first read the story, I felt like crying. Here’s the story:
A truly DisAbled director, Richard Butchins, made a film about six truly DisAbled people who tour America with a carnival and are proud to be freaks. And so they should be, because as any DisAbled person will tell you, they’re not freaks at all!
Here’s the problem: BAFTA have accused the documentary of being too explicit, raising too many questions and being too demanding for the event in question. This seems hilarious, especially since the ‘event in question’ is a disability film festival! I thought such events were a chance to celebrate real DisAbility. Obviously not. This just proves the point that there is a very long way to go in the fight for real inclusion.
Very nice try, Richard Butchins. All the best to him from me. I feel truly sorry for him, and I really hope he knows that the problem is with the mainstream BAFTA organisers, not him. Maybe they should axe the idea of a disability film festival altogether. Unfortunately, they obviously can’t handle it existing… yet. I really hope this changes in future but for now, they are right to be very embarrassed.
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