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A moody teenager believes his family loves his disabled brother more than him and decides to get revenge. . .by hurling him off a mountain.
COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, another excellent production by the BBC, looks at a family where one child is different – but which child? And the challenges that causes – but to which child?
The film is a surprisingly unsentimental, but frequently funny 90 minute drama which explores the volatile relationship between two brothers. David is a typical 15-year-old with an active imagination. Ben is slightly older and has Down syndrome.
Written by Mark Haddon, author of the best-selling novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” Haddon’s script deals with Down syndrome warmly and wittily, rather than worthily. And it centers on an often overlooked aspect of disability in the often “feel good, overcoming obstacles, paint-by-numbers” world of TV dramas -- the way disability affects the entire family.
Features great performances from Tommy Jessop as Ben and Nicholas Hoult (from ABOUT A BOY and the controversial TV drama SKINS, shown stateside on BBC America) as David. (Both are pictured.) MOUNTAIN is more humorous, and touching, than you’d expect.
Screened along with the animated short COUSIN, Academy Award winner Adam Elliot’s childhood remembrances of a cousin, his special arm, pet rocks and shopping carts.
Date: Wednesday, September 30. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Screening begins promptly at 7. Refreshments will be served. Sorry, this film is not captioned.
NEW location: 5 Washington Place, Room 101 (Ground Floor) between Mercer and Broadway in NYC.
Suggested donation: $5
Screenings are regularly filled to capacity. To RSVP and secure YOUR seat, please email: disTHIS@dnnyc.net
ABOUT US: The disTHIS! Film Series, a program of the Disabilities Network of New York City, began in April 2006 to showcase festival quality, cutting edge short, documentary, feature and experimental films that offer ground-breaking interpretations of the disability experience beyond "movie of the week" cliches.
Acclaimed by film lovers with and without disabilities, disTHIS! has been featured in Disability Studies Quarterly, the Tribeca Trib, the New York Nonprofit Press, Able News and the New York Times Sunday Style section (above the fold!) for presenting quality disability cinema with the promise of "No handkerchief necessary, no heroism required!" disTHIS! films are frequently funny (and meant to be), remarkably sexy (just like our audiences), often controversial (because we like that sort of thing).
Always provocative; never quite what audiences expect. Monthly screenings are followed by audience “talk-backs” and regular appearances by filmmakers, actors and other guests.
Throughout our history, we've teamed with Film Comment, the BBC, IFC, and MTV, among others, to bring audiences the cutting edge of disability-themed cinema and television.
disTHIS! is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the generous support of the Fund for the City of New York, the Screen Actors Guild, the NYU Community Fund and our members.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From DisTHIS!: 
