Including Samuel: An award-winning documentary
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009Filed under: Themes, Cerebral Ballsy, Irked Videos
dan habib supports his son, samuel habib, during a t-ball game in concord, nh. samuel uses a "bronco" all-terrain walker to hit and get around the bases. (photo credit: lori duff/concord monitor)
Before his son Samuel was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, photojournalist Dan Habib rarely thought about the inclusion of people with disabilities. Now he thinks about inclusion every day. His award winning documentary film, “Including Samuel,” chronicles the Habib family’s efforts to include Samuel in every facet of their lives. The film honestly portrays his family’s hopes and struggles as well as the experiences of four other individuals with disabilities and their families. Currently airing on Public TV nationwide, “Including Samuel” is his very personal effort to inspire the public—especially anyone connected to education—to talk about inclusion in a more informed and innovative way.
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Quoting photojournalist and filmmaker Dan Habib:
Samuel’s journey is the central thread through the film, and I wanted viewers to learn a lot about him beyond the fact that he has a disability: He wrestles with his brother. He loves t-ball. He wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. Yet Samuel is only nine, and including him will likely become more and more challenging as he grows up. So I also made this film to learn from the experiences of other people with disabilities who can look back on the choices they and their parents have made, and to see how these choices have shaped their lives.
When I was a teenager I fell in love with photography . . . The 57th Street galleries and the International Center of Photography were my places of worship. Work by great photographers filled the walls—Andre Kertsz, Susan Meiseles, Bruce Davidson, Josef Koudelka—there were dozens and dozens of exhibits every time I went to the city and I lapped it all up . . . In 1992 I took a course at the Maine Photo Workshop with Eugene Richards that changed the direction of my career, and led me to pursue longer documentary projects . . . As I’ve gotten older my heroes are not photographers now as much as they are great documentarians, activists and change agents: Studs Terkel. Martin Luther King. Helen Keller. Lincoln. Rosa Parks. FDR. Obama. The many, many great disability rights leaders working right now for change. And it may sound corny, but my wife and two boys inspire me more than anyone else living or dead.
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“Including Samuel” will air on PBS World on October 9. (See listings here). Watch a 12-minute clip from the film:
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More at includingsamuel.com
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