(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 28 - A summer camp for children with physical and mental disabilities, Camp Jened (created in the 1950s and closed in 2009) in the Catskills Mountains in the State of New York, in the early 1970s, became the place of 'foundation' of a united, free and motivated group of very young people, destined to become an important part, in the collective protests for the rights of the disabled.
Symbol of this path is JudithHeumann, a polio survivor and frontline activist who has become an international icon for her commitment.
A fascinating story told by another CampJened 'boy', Jim LeBrecht, director with Nicole Newnham of Crip Camp - Revolutionary Disabilities, available on Netflix, which after winning the 2020 audience award for documentaries at Sundance is given among the favorites for Oscar to the best documentary.
Among the first to believe in Crip Camp were Barack and Michelle Obama: their company, Higher Ground, is co-producer of the film and they also appear as executive co-producers.
"President Obama saw three different edits of the documentary, gave us his feedback and was very generous in promoting the film - explains Nicole Newnham in the online meeting with Jim LeBrecht organized by the American Cinema -. He meant a lot to us".
Thanks to the use of the films shot in the early 70s at Camp Jedendal People's Video Theater, Crip Camp makes us discover as teenagers the protagonists of the story, which we review in the present, and the extraordinary experience shared in the campsite.
A place where the echoes of '68 had arrived and the boys, aided by young volunteers, found themselves forming a group, between the birth of friendships and going on for a lifetime, and the first experiences of falling in love and sex.
Days that combined moments of fun and confrontation between peers, on common difficulties, such as the prejudices they suffered or the continuous foreclosures that society imposed on them.
"The experience of the camp emancipated us, we understood that the status quo had to change," explains Judith Heumann in the film.
(HANDLE).