Crip Camp

Crip Camp
File:Crip Camp poster.jpg Official release poster
Directed by	Nicole Newnham James Lebrecht
Produced by	Nicole Newnham James Lebrecht Sara Bolder
Written by	Nicole Newnham James Lebrecht
Music by	Bear McCreary
Cinematography	Justin Schein
Edited by	Andrew Gersh Eileen Meyer
Distributed by	Netflix
Release dates	January 23, 2020 (2020-01-23) (Sundance) March 25, 2020 (2020-03-25) (United States)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is a 2020 American documentary film directed, written and co-produced by Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht. Barack and Michelle Obama serve as executive producers under their Higher Ground Productions banner.

Crip Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020, where it won the Audience Award. It was released on March 25, 2020, by Netflix and received acclaim from critics. It has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

Premise

Crip Camp starts in 1971 at Camp Jened, a summer camp in New York described as a "loose, free-spirited camp designed for teens with disabilities". Starring Larry Allison, Judith Heumann, James LeBrecht, Denise Sherer Jacobson, and Stephen Hofmann, the film focuses on those campers who turned themselves into activists for the disability rights movement and follows their fight for accessibility legislation.

Production

The idea to make the film about Camp Jened started "with an off-hand comment at lunch". James LeBrecht had worked with Nicole Newnham for 15 years as a co-director. LeBrecht was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair to get around. However, he had never seen a documentary related to his "life's work as a disability rights advocate". At the end of the lunch meeting, LeBrecht told Newnham, "You know, I've always wanted to see this film made about my summer camp", and she replied with "Oh, that's nice, why?". Newnham told The Guardian, "then he completely blew my mind" explaining why he wanted to make this film. Newnham said:

What Jim and I always felt is that we wanted the film to bring people into the world of Camp Jened, to give them that experience themselves: arriving at camp, checking out the scene, maybe feeling a little bit uncomfortable, not sure what's going on, not sure if they speak the language. Then, over time, they'd come to feel like this is a world that is fun and joyous and liberating for them as viewers, just like it was for Jim. Jim's personal story would bring you into that.

Release

Crip Camp had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020. The film was released on March 25, 2020, by Netflix. The film was set to be released in a limited release that same day, but the theatrical release was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "As entertaining as it is inspiring, Crip Camp uses one group's remarkable story to highlight hope for the future and the power of community." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "this indispensable documentary defines what it means to call a movie 'inspiring'." Justin Chang writing for Los Angeles Times said that "[the film] delivers an appreciably blunt message". Benjamin Lee of The Guardian wrote, "this impactful film shines a light on a forgotten fight for equality". Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "My only hope is that the confrontational title and the Obama branding don't scare some viewers away from a story that is truly non-partisan, humane and significant". Peter Debruge writing for Variety said, "[the film] proves to be the most educational for those born into a post-ADA world, a world of self-opening doors and accessible bathroom stalls and ramps that take wheelchairs into consideration".

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote, "The spirit of revolution—righteously angry yet full of bonhomie, demanding but generous in its reach—is alive and well in the film. As, one hopes, it is everywhere else". Carlos Ríos Espinosa of Human Rights Watch wrote, "The film made me realize the importance of building spaces for people with disabilities to organize". Katie Rife of The A.V. Club wrote, "[the film] will serve as an enlightening look at how much has changed in the past 50 years". Jake Coyle writing for The Washington Post wrote, "[the film] has a specific starting point but it unfolds as a broader chronicle of a decades-long fight for civil rights—one that has received less attention than other 20th century struggles for equity".

Awards and nominations

List of awards and nominations received by Crip Camp

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref(s).
2020	Sundance Film Festival	Audience Award	Won
		Grand Jury Prize	Nominated
	Miami International Film Festival	Best Documentary	Nominated
		Zeno Mountain Award	Won
	Critics' Choice Award	Best Documentary Feature	Nominated
2021	International Documentary Association	Best Feature	Won
	Hollywood Music in Media Awards	Best Original Score in a Documentary	Nominated
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Documentary Feature	Won
	Academy Awards	Best Documentary Feature	Nominated
	Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award		Won
	Austin Film Critics Association	Best Documentary	Nominated
	Peabody Awards	Documentary honoree	Won

See also

• 2020 in film
• Crip (disability term)
• List of original films distributed by Netflix

External links

• Official website
• Official trailer
• Crip Camp at IMDb
• Crip Camp on YouTube, full official feature posted by Netflix
• Crip Camp on Netflix