OLIVIER BERNIER HAS BEEN AWARDED $400,000 FOR HIS FILM ABOUT HIS SON
New York Film Director Olivier Bernier
US Director, Olivier Bernier, has been awarded $400,000 to make a film about his personal search for his son’s inclusive education. The film will take its audience on a journey of discovery following Bernier and his wife Hilda, a public school teacher, as they try to find an inclusive school for their son Emilio.
Incorporating footage shot throughout Emilio’s life, starting with Emilio’s birth and including Bernier and his wife receiving the news that their son had Down’s Syndrome, the film will tell the intimate story of young parents learning to navigate a world which all too often fails to include their son.
Bringing his personal experiences together with a global outlook, the film will compare the state of inclusive education in the US to other school systems around the world. The film will be produced by an inclusive crew and fully accessible set, and audio description and sign language will be a priority throughout.
Videocamp is an online platform for free public screenings of social impact films. Groups of over five people gathered anywhere around the world can hold a free screening of any film from the videocamp catalogue, turning town squares, classrooms, and even living rooms into cinemas. So far they’ve enabled 24,000 screenings in more than 100 countries.
Rosangela Berman-Bieler
UNICEF Global Senior Adviser on Children with Disabilities, Rosangela Berman-Bierler, says, “By sharing his personal story, Olivier Bernier has a real opportunity to change the discussion on inclusive education.”
This year’s Videocamp Film Fund inspired hundreds of filmmakers to creatively tackle issues of disability and representation in film. Around the world, 1 billion people – or one in five – have a disability, yet they do not see themselves represented often enough on screen, or even behind the camera.
Videocamp is the world’s largest social impact film fund, and in this year it has partnered with UNICEF to back a film about “inclusive education”. Inclusive education is all about educating children children alongside their peers, to the benefit of everyone.