Anna Daniels
Crip Camp debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and became a big hit at the fest, winning the Audience Award for documentaries and earning a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating from reviewers. The Netflix film, which is executive produced by former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, is a documentary about “a ramshackle summer camp for teenagers with disabilities” and how its visitors were inspired to fight for civil rights for the disabled in America. Check out the first trailer below.
Crip Camp Trailer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRrIs22plz0?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
We didn’t have a chance to see this ourselves at Sundance this year, but the movie went over very, very well with practically everyone who saw it. IndieWire said it “proves some success stories only grow more powerful with age, and their ability to inspire action is timeless,” The Film Stage called it “both an inspiring historical document of a grass-roots movement but also an urgent call to action for those on the sidelines of ongoing political and societal battles,” and Variety wrote, “In the end, Crip Camp isn’t about disability so much as the incredible ability this community showed, overcoming physical barriers and personal discomfort in order to be taken seriously.”
You may remember that a part of this story was covered in an episode of the Comedy Central series Drunk History a while back. That clip is evidently not allowed to be embedded, but you can watch it here.
Emmy Award-winner Nicole Newnham and former camper Jim LeBrecht directed Crip Camp, which is the second Netflix movie to be executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. Their first, American Factory, won Best Documentary at the Academy Awards this year. Will Crip Camp be an Oscar contender in 2021? We’ll see. In the meantime, though, they’re teaming up with the Russo Brothers for their first narrative feature, a drama called Exit West which will star Riz Ahmed (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).
Here’s the official synopsis:
Down the road from Woodstock, a revolution blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for teenagers with disabilities, transforming their lives and igniting a landmark movement. CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION is an untold story co-directed by Emmy® Award-winner Nicole Newnham and film mixer and former camper Jim LeBrecht. Executive producers include President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Tonia Davis and Priya Swaminathan, and Oscar®-nominee Howard Gertler (How to Survive a Plague).
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution premieres on Netflix on March 25, 2020.
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