Trans films and documentaries have always been a tough sell here at ImageOut. So it's good to see a nice crowd this afternoon for Kimberly Reed's heart-wrenching documentary about going back to her past life as a popular HS quarterback and reaching out to her adopted older brother, Marc. Can't wait to hear people's thoughts on the film.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Day 2: PRODIGAL SONS
Trans films and documentaries have always been a tough sell here at ImageOut. So it's good to see a nice crowd this afternoon for Kimberly Reed's heart-wrenching documentary about going back to her past life as a popular HS quarterback and reaching out to her adopted older brother, Marc. Can't wait to hear people's thoughts on the film.
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5 comments:
This powerful documentary moved me in ways I did not expect. I came in with a mindset to see Kimberly's amazing story of transition and her homecoming. What blew me away though was how it graduated into a story of her family's search for acceptance and support of her brother living with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
I work with people living with TBI so this film hit home to me on that level. This is the most honest portrayal of a family struggling to find solutions and acceptance for their brother living with a TBI that I have ever seen.
Obviously, as with most people who are living with TBI, Marc had some very strong personality traits before his injury which were then heightened by his injury. Kudos to Kimberly for not editing out the difficult scenes. I like how she showed us Marc's perseveration on certain topics along with his diminished impulse control and the effects it had on her family and Marc. What moved me most was his struggle to hold on to his long term memories of his adopted family while searching out his birth family, all while lacking some of the "normal" filters to process all the emotions that go along with this experience. I also enjoyed seeing Kimberly draw parallels between the changes in her life and the changes in Marc's life.
This will be, hands down, my favorite film from the festival. Please let me know if it comes out on DVD as I would love to screen this at work. I think anyone who works with people with TBI should experience Kimberly's story.
Phenomenal pick ImageOut Programming crew :-)
Hi Anne. You should join our Prodigal Sons Facebook group. DVDs will be available soon and you can keep up to date on all the news about PS. We'd also love to work with you on outreach and I'm heading up that effort. If you want to write to me at pfunknmrk@yahoo.com, we can start a dialog. That would be great! Thanks for your wonderful comments on the film. Pamela
genius, genius, genius
Great film! I was disappointed that Kim was unable to make it Rochester. It would have been interesting to meet her and hear her speak. It's just unbelievable how difficult some families lives are, it's so wreching to see the suffering. I think the one family member I felt the sorriest for was their Mom. My God, what a difficult life that woman has had.
Anne said most of what I was going to say here. The topic of the film did morph from sexuality to TBI, but it did so in a way that told both stories in a touch way. While difficult to watch at times, I'm sure it was even more difficult to expose that part of their life to the world. And I want to thank Kimberly and her family for have the bravery to allow us to see and indeed to some degree experience her world. The difficult scenes and the brutally honest reflection of her own feelings told in the narrative make this an exceptionally strong piece.
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