'Deaf President Now!' Directors & Participants on Importance of This Story | THR Studio at Park City - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

'Deaf President Now!' directors Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, along with participants Tim Rarus, Jerry Covell, Greg Hlibok and Bridgetta Bourne-Firl stop by THR's studio in Park City to talk all about "the most important civil rights moment in history." DiMarco reveals when he first heard the story, while the participants share that he's the first deaf person to approach them about turning this into a film.

Transcript

00:00Things happen for a reason, you know, as time went on. We were so excited about

00:05getting this movie out and helping the world to see where we are, who we are as

00:10a people. We are cool, fun, deaf people to begin with.

00:20So I first learned the story of Deaf President Now when I was in second grade

00:24and my mom told me this story actually. My mom is also Deaf and my entire family had

00:31known this history. You know, this is a story that's been passed down generation

00:35to generation. Not so much an oral history, if you will, but sort of one on the

00:40hands. And the protest is incredibly well known within our world, but the hearing

00:45world doesn't know anything about the most important civil rights moment in

00:48our history. And this protest really is about four incredible student leaders

00:54sat with me here who led the way. You know, Gallaudet University had finally

01:01received a Deaf President after 124 years of hearing paternalism due to their

01:06efforts. It's surprising that I didn't know about it because I grew up in

01:10Washington DC, miles away from Gallaudet. I knew about Gallaudet, but I never knew

01:15about the protests. And so when Niall brought the idea to my company, I was

01:20like, oh, that's incredible. And we have to tell this story to the world because these

01:29four people were teenagers. And in this moment where it could have gone good or

01:36bad, it was these four teenagers who said, we believe in collective action and we're

01:43going to fight for our rights.

01:45It was actually quite easy to convince them. I'm incredibly lucky. You know, when

01:51approaching them about this story, you know, I certainly was not the first. They

01:54had been approached many times before me, but when I was able to reach out to them,

01:59you know, they all told me, you're the first Deaf person to ask us to make a film

02:03about this. And I think that's what made it much easier for them to say yes. Thank God.

02:07And anything for Niall. Right, right. He's a model. Honestly. A model citizen. We wanted

02:17authenticity. We want to make sure that it was very clear. Also, we would make it clear

02:23that we did not want our characters or our, we didn't want any movie drama or anything altered

02:31from this. We wanted to stick straight to the story. And it was like, wow, I'm so impressed

02:37that they did it.

02:40So we've been waiting for this moment to happen and wondering. He'd come to us, you

02:48know, after about 30 years of the protest having happened, but then opportunities had

02:53fallen through previous to this. But when Niall came to me first, I knew that Niall would be

03:00able to pull things together and make it happen. And he did. We believed in him and we had

03:07a successful delivery of this story. And like Jerry said, we wanted the story to be told

03:12as accurately as possible without a lot of twisting or dramatization. And the story has

03:18been told really as accurate as our personal experiences were.

03:22Different groups over these years have come to us to propose maybe having a film. Dolly Parton's

03:28company. Oh, I forget it. Oh, Sand Dollar company approached us, but that didn't work out. And

03:34you know, like many other films, sometimes it doesn't work out. But, you know, back in the

03:39day, they said, well, maybe we will create this, you know, pointing to me, having me, you know,

03:44having sex with a police officer during the protest and then making someone else do, be a druggie. And

03:50then we could get busted and things like that. And at that time, we said, wait a minute. No, no, no, no. You know,

03:55we hadn't even started our profession working as career professionals. We were in our 20s and we

04:00were, we did not want that to happen. So, you know, over the years, we wanted a documentary.

04:05You know, we've always said, we want to tell our story, but just didn't have the opportunity until

04:10now. And, you know, with Niall, it's just, he's the perfect person. You know, he was the perfect

04:15person to be born on earth and make this happen for us and for our film.

04:19Davis, he was relentless, just kept asking questions and asking questions to try to pull

04:27things out of me because some things I had kind of forgotten. We're talking about 34 years ago.

04:34So I was like, wow. So I was really impressed that now watching the movie, I'm like, wow,

04:38that really, yeah, he really did pull a lot out of me. I remember that in seeing the other three,

04:43you know, they did amazing as well. Parts of the story were surprising.

04:52So how naive I was and looking back, I really was a kid, but then realizing how I made it through

05:00without any handler at the time, you know, and it worked out. So I think that we recognized

05:08what we thought of each other at the time as well. And like, oh, that was a reminder that what we

05:15thought of each other at the time, there were little everyday nuances that at the moment we set aside

05:21for the bigger and greater work, the greater cause that we were unified for. Deaf President now is

05:27representative of deaf people in the fact that we have diversity within our community. We have a whole

05:34ecosystem of people. We have greater goals, though, that join us together. And those little disagreements,

05:39what we think of each other, those little dislikes can be set aside for us to come together as a

05:45community for one cause. The story of Deaf President now, I feel, is so much for the deaf community.

05:51I think it's very important for us to get this history correct. You know, I want this story to

05:57be told in the most authentic light. And while it's something that most deaf people know and have

06:03experienced, it's something that is important for us to respect. But at the same time, I want this to

06:09re-inspire my community. That's very key.

'Deaf President Now!' Directors & Participants on Importance of This Story | THR Studio at Park City

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