Autism Every Day Selected as Special Screening Film at 2007 Sundance Film Festival

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Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 05:58:58 -0500 (EST)

Subject: Autism Every Day Selected as Special Screening Film at 2007 Sundance

Film

Festival

http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/autism_every_day_sundance.php

Visit above site to view to

" Click here for a larger version of the Autism Every Day poster. " " And

click here to view the 12-minute version of the documentary. "

Autism Every Day Selected as Special Screening Film at 2007 Sundance

Film Festival

World Premiere Screening to be Followed by Autism Awareness Panel with

Filmmaker, Producers and Parents of Children with Autism

(NEW YORK, NY – Jan. 2, 2007) – Autism Every Day, a powerful documentary

that takes viewers inside the lives of families struggling to raise

children with autism, has been selected by the Sundance Institute as a

special screening film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The Sunday,

January 21, world premiere of the 44-minute film -- which will be

screened out of competition -- will be followed by a special autism

awareness panel featuring the filmmakers and parents who appear with

their children in the film. Additional screenings will take place

January 22 and 27.

A 12-minute version of Autism Every Day was first produced for, and

screened at, " A New Decade for Autism, " a

fundraising event held May 9, 2006, in New York to benefit Autism Speaks

and the New York Center for Autism Charter School. The film was intended

to be shown one time only, but was subsequently broadcast by Don Imus on

his MSNBC and nationally syndicated radio programs. It quickly spread

virally through the Internet, first among members of the autism

community and then beyond, generating tens of thousands of views on

various web sites and blogs.

The tremendous online popularity of the documentary led Autism Speaks to

create the longer, 44-minute version of the film that included

additional families and their compelling stories.

Autism Every Day is a truthful, unvarnished portrayal of the

24-hour-a-day challenges faced by families as they confront the

heartbreak of autism with uncompromising hope and unconditional love.

The film was directed by Thierry of the October Group and

co-produced by Ms. Thierry and of Milestone Video. Funding

for the film was provided by Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks co-founders

Bob and Suzanne served as executive producers of the film. Autism

Speaks Senior Vice President Alison Singer served as Executive in Charge

of Production.

“We are honored to have Autism Every Day selected for special

recognition in this year's Sundance Film Festival, reflecting the

Sundance Institute's on-going tradition of screening films that reflect

the most important issues facing our society,†said Bob and Suzanne

. “This film provides a vivid window into the unique challenges --

the hopes and frustrations -- of the hundreds of thousands of

individuals and families like ours affected by autism in this country.â€

“My family has been touched directly by the autism epidemic and living

with the day-to-day struggles and joys was enough motivation for us to

get this film made,†said Thierry, whose son Liam is diagnosed with

Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism Every Day wrenchingly follows a cross-section of families --

families representing the upper and lower end of the financial spectrum

and different ethnic backgrounds-- whose lives have been turned inside

out by an epidemic that the Centers for Disease Control estimates is

diagnosed in 1 in 166 children. Each family's story blends together in

an unrelentingingly similar quilt: parents who have had to both quit

careers and borrow outlandish sums of money to pay for therapies and

schools; the staggering reality of letting go of traditional dreams for

their children -- little league, trips, dating -- in exchange for the

joy of a child finally being able to brush his teeth at age 6 or a 9

year-old who has learned to say ‘l love you, mommy.'

The documentary's opening chilling montage shows children struggling to

communicate, screaming, and one child dashing down the street unaware of

the speeding traffic ahead. A family with three children on the autism

spectrum recounts having to quit friendships with people who don't

understand the 24/7 demands of a five year-old who has yet to utter a

single word or the 40-50 hours of therapies that are not reimbursed by

insurance. A hole in the roof goes unrepaired for two years as they

borrow yet again against their home.

As one mother so eloquently explains, “He is trying so hard to stay

inside himself and I am trying so hard to pull him out. I can never die;

I have to live forever.†But Autism Every Day also captures the

unconditional, powerful love of the exhausted, not to be broken parents.

Its candid portrait somehow reminds us that where there is love there is

hope and that hope brings with it the joys of even the smallest successes.

The 2007 Sundance Film Festival runs January 18-28 in Park City,

Sundance, Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah. The following are the

screening times and locations for Autism Every Day:

Sunday, January 21, 10:00 a.m., Holiday IV

Monday, January 22, 2:30 p.m., Holiday I

Saturday, January 27, 7:30 p.m., Broadway 6

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