Mary Jo Chaisson (pictured above), one of the stars of the film "Shooting
Beauty," was waiting outside of the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square greeting
her friends from Watertown's United Cerebral Palsy Day Experience Program as
they arrived for the big premiere of the documentary at the Independent Film
Festival of Boston on Sunday, Aug. 26.
"I feel like a Hollywood star," Chaisson gushes to a reporter with a video camera.
Cheryl Magnusson, another photographer from the "Shooting Beauty" film,
arrived via a MBTA shuttle and the two were genuinely happy to see each other.
The sheer joy Chaisson expressed when Magnusson arrived to the red-carpet
event moved many to tears. It was friendship and love in its purest form.
"Shooting Beauty" was an unexpected gem of IFFBoston.
"Within 15 minutes of watching this film, we knew it would screen at the
festival," says Adam Roffman, the executive director of IFFBoston. "This film
speaks for itself."
"Shooting Beauty," which began filming 10 years ago, tells what happened when
professional fashion photographer Courtney Bent gave cameras to people with
cerebral palsy. Bent, armed with good intentions, had no clue what to expect.
The result is a film that gives voice to those without a voice. It touches on
universal themes--like friendship, unrequited love, isolation, fear and even
death--but doesn't shove it down our throats.
"Shooting Beauty," a collaboration by Bent and now husband George
Kachadorian, is an inspiring film about the human condition and the need for
artistic expression.
Tony Knight, who has gone on to be an accomplished photographer, says in
the film that his disability "is not who I am." After the IFFBoston screening, he
shared the stage with Bent and Kachadorian and you could see how proud he
was to finally be able to express his artistic sensibility to the masses.
"I'm going to ride this wave until it crashes," he says, after a lifetime of "being
pointed at, whispered about, and according to him, misunderstood." His peers
from the Watertown center were sitting in front of him, beaming with joy.
True beauty? They were all sitting in the front row of the Somerville Theatre.
Beauty," was waiting outside of the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square greeting
her friends from Watertown's United Cerebral Palsy Day Experience Program as
they arrived for the big premiere of the documentary at the Independent Film
Festival of Boston on Sunday, Aug. 26.
"I feel like a Hollywood star," Chaisson gushes to a reporter with a video camera.
Cheryl Magnusson, another photographer from the "Shooting Beauty" film,
arrived via a MBTA shuttle and the two were genuinely happy to see each other.
The sheer joy Chaisson expressed when Magnusson arrived to the red-carpet
event moved many to tears. It was friendship and love in its purest form.
"Shooting Beauty" was an unexpected gem of IFFBoston.
"Within 15 minutes of watching this film, we knew it would screen at the
festival," says Adam Roffman, the executive director of IFFBoston. "This film
speaks for itself."
"Shooting Beauty," which began filming 10 years ago, tells what happened when
professional fashion photographer Courtney Bent gave cameras to people with
cerebral palsy. Bent, armed with good intentions, had no clue what to expect.
The result is a film that gives voice to those without a voice. It touches on
universal themes--like friendship, unrequited love, isolation, fear and even
death--but doesn't shove it down our throats.
"Shooting Beauty," a collaboration by Bent and now husband George
Kachadorian, is an inspiring film about the human condition and the need for
artistic expression.
Tony Knight, who has gone on to be an accomplished photographer, says in
the film that his disability "is not who I am." After the IFFBoston screening, he
shared the stage with Bent and Kachadorian and you could see how proud he
was to finally be able to express his artistic sensibility to the masses.
"I'm going to ride this wave until it crashes," he says, after a lifetime of "being
pointed at, whispered about, and according to him, misunderstood." His peers
from the Watertown center were sitting in front of him, beaming with joy.
True beauty? They were all sitting in the front row of the Somerville Theatre.
Delta Films - Movie News
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'Shooting Beauty' shines at IFFBoston premiere
by Roland Hansen
by Roland Hansen
Send comments to editor@deltafilms.net
