These are archived posts from Spring and Summer 2018. Older posts are on the bottom.
July 22 2018:
http://thenormalityofabnormality.blogspot.com/2018/07/cpcinema-princess.html
I(Margot) did an interview for my friend’s blog “The Normality of Abnormality” about my experiences with Cerebral Palsy such as surgery, physical therapy, and writing films at Crip Video Productions! Please check out the interview and the other awesome disability related posts on the blog!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bknj4cOlMSg/
A fan of “A Stroke Of Endurance” and Crip Video Productions in general has added the link to “A Stroke Of Endurance” to their new private instagram page. You must have an Instagram page to view the images and link to the film. If you have trouble viewing the link or have suggestions about neat disability related content this person can add to their page please message them on Instagram and let them know. Please follow this person on Instagram. This person will post more content but it is unknown exactly when new content will be posted.
EDIT: Their new Instagram is here https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGNp_Blqrr/
“
A Stroke Of Endurance"
It doesn’t matter where you are, you could be in the U.S,Asia, or even Florence, when it comes to having a disability it is only a challenge.
We collaborate together to the best of our abilities. It doesn’t matter who you are or what time it is, you have to be ready to act.
It does not take much to save a life. Today we did it together. Eventually it will be done to us. Possibly when we least expect it. The bottom line is to treat others the way you want to be treated. We are all here for each other. To simply help one another.
”
—
John Diodato.
A poem about and inspired by “A Stroke Of Endurance” written by John Diodato, a blind actor who played one of the student characters in the film. To watch
“A Stroke Of Endurance” online for free scroll down on this blog or go to the “films” tab on our official website.
The Crip Video Productions Tumblr blog was re shared to a blog list called “The Roll Call” . Crip Video Productions was originally shared on “The Roll Call” in 2014 here
http://cripvideoproductions.tumblr.com/post/79127325052/the-roll-callbecause a lot of Crip Video Productions’ work is centered around Cerebral Palsy as our director Margot has mild spastic diplegia Cerebral Palsy like most of the lead characters in our films like Ava,Brandon and Randy and part of our mission is to increase understanding of the life experience of having Cerebral Palsy.
Super Special thanks to Sarah Perkins of "The Most Usually Unusual” for the publicity!
We did a Q&A after the screening. One person asked how long it took to shoot the film. I explained it took about 3 to 4 days to shoot. One person asked what the hardest part of filmmaking was and I explained the hardest parts had to do with scheduling and small details. One person asked what my motivation to create the film was. I told them at first it was simply to express my emotions surrounding the events in my life that originally happened in 2015 and that later on I met other stroke survivors who wanted to see more uplighting stories about strokes, and that I also wanted to depict a character who was new to disability who wanted to live, NOT to die because I felt media too often depicted disability as a tragedy. (This is separate from covering mental illness in media which is a different topic) One of my cast members asked how people’s perceptions of disability changed after seeing the film and after seeing how a cast of disabled and able bodied actors worked together. One audience member said that they did not realize that a stroke was considered a disability. I replied that all strokes were different depending on the area of the brain effected and the severity. Some people are hardly effected by their strokes and don’t identify as disabled, some are like the Professor Ben character in the film, and others are wheelchair users. The audience said the film gave them a lot to think about.
Super Special thanks to Student World Assembly for the party, screening and Q&A! We have full permission from Student World Assembly to write this post!
For KCC Students Only!
Crip Video Productions “A Stroke Of Endurance” screening for Student World Assembly club, Tuesday May 29th at 5:00pm in Room M378 with Q&A!
“A Stroke of Endurance” a film about friendship, faith, and endurance. The story, written and directed by filmmaker, Margot Cole, is about how a college student with Cerebral Palsy and her classmates must deal with varying forms of fall-out when mid-semester, their professor has a stroke that leaves him disabled. Crip Video Productions’ mission is to increase understanding of Disability through storytelling.
Please note, I had special permission from Student World Assembly to post this blog entry.
I introduced the film. I thanked Kingsborough and talked about how disability is truly the most diverse minority there is because there are so many different disabilities and disability effects everybody regardless of their race, class or what country they are in and that certain aspects of disability seem to be somewhat universal regardless of one’s culture. I explained how I had met some of the people the film is roughly based on because of the Diversity Festival.
We had a smaller turnout than the other times I have been to the festival but it was so nice to hear the audience reactions. A few of the cast members from the film also attended. Instead of the usual Q&A people seemed more comfortable talking to me and the other cast members in a more one on one way after the film ended. People who attended told us how great they thought the film was. One person told us they had shown the youtube link to “A Stroke Of Endurance” to their family who live in Israel. One of these family members was a 90 something year old blind Holocaust Survivor who was described to me as a strong, forgiving person who saved the lives of others. This woman Holocaust Survivor saw the film “A Stroke Of Endurance” just shortly before she died. I’m told she really enjoyed the messages in the film. It made my day to hear that! Some people asked me about the possibility of hosting more screenings and I will be grateful for any new opportunities!
I have full permission from Kingsborough Community College to write this post!
May 10 2018:
On May 10th 2018, I did a small private screening for a writing class of Professor Anderson’s at KCC as part of her lessons. We discussed the theme of empathy in the film. Part of the discussion was also about the effects of trauma and I was able to bring up how the effects of the physical trauma to the brain in Cerebral Palsy and Stroke led to certain symptoms. One student asked how long it took to make the film and I explained that if the writing process is included in the time estimation it took about 2 years to create “A Stroke Of Endurance” from start to finish. We have full permission from Professor Anderson and her class to write this blog post and we thank all of them for the wonderful opportunity!
“
My name is Matthew, I am president of Beyond the Limits Club at BMCC. It is a club that tries to create a community of both people with and people without disabilities to be a support system for our members. When I first started emailing with Margot, I was already very enthusiastic about working with her. Through a lot of emailing, we made plans to screen one of her films, A Stroke of Endurance, for Beyond the Limits Club. Afterwards we would have a Q&A with Margot and some of her cast. The professionalism she displayed, and the initiative she took when working out how we would do the Q&A was quite impressive.
When I watched the film with the rest of the club, I felt a sense of understanding. I may not have had the same experiences as the characters in the film, but I do know what it’s like to be limited by circumstances that are out of my control, and I have had the same side effect from meds that the actor playing the lead professor did. I know how limiting and time consuming that both a disability and the treatment for it can take, and the toll it takes on your body and mind. In working with Margot, I became inspired to want to do more for people living with both mental, learning, and physical disabilities. I look forward to working with Margot again, and hope that any information or resources I can contribute can be useful to her in her creative processes.
I am now more aware of the burdens that people face beyond my own. A Stroke of Endurance opened my eyes to a new perspective, and I hope that I can take that knowledge and apply it in a way that benefits anyone with a disability, no matter what kind. I want to do more for people with disabilities, in my school and in the world at large. The first step is just finding a way to do it. I hope I can become more like Margot, because she is doing through film what I try to do through leading a club; get the message out there that people don’t have to be alone in dealing with disabilities, that there is a community out there with people who want to help them. Once I find my niche in that world, I’m never letting go.
”
—
Matthew J.
To watch
“A Stroke Of Endurance” online for free please scroll down on this blog or go to the “films” tab on our official website! More exciting news on new screenings and new projects from Crip Video Productions will be posted soon.
One day our club had a film that they wanted us to watch. It was called “A Stroke of Endurance” By Margot Cole. I thought this was a perfect time for me to do my homework on my tablet. I thought this film was going to be boring. So I started to watch it and I couldn’t stop watching it. I couldn’t even eat my slice of pizza that day. After I watched it. I began asking so many questions to ask our President Mathew of our club. He didn’t know some of the answers so we had a computer that we could ask Margot Cole our questions I think you would call it Skype. It gave me encouragement and high self esteem to go forward in a project that was impossible for me to do because I was being shy and didn’t think I could do it because of my disability. I have Bipolar Disorder and ADHD. Because of this film it showed me that just because you have a disability does not mean you can’t do it but there are always ways for you to not only start it but to finish it. Because of this film I finished my project on time and I felt so good about myself. Thank you Margot Cole for making this film. It inspired me to keep going forward in my accomplishing my goal.”
—
Bernadette Perna.
In April 2018, I had a screening for a college club called “Beyond The Limits”. I introduced the film and we had a Q&A via Skype. During the Q&A, my actor Tim Snoha said he approached Professor Ben’s character as “How would it feel to not be sure if you can communicate as well as you used to and do your job, because the professor loves to teach.” and used his Cerebral Palsy as a reference for the character. The above quote is from one of our new biggest fans who we met at the screening. Thank you so much for your lovely words Bernadette! We have full permission from Bernadette to post her words.
To watch
“A Stroke Of Endurance” online for free please scroll down on this blog or go to the “films” tab on our official website! More exciting news on new screenings and new projects from Crip Video Productions will be posted soon.
