Canadian short film imparts wisdom from artists with Down syndrome

From Health Zone in Canada:

"I'm a little bit unusual but I'm fine."

As apt a description of Down syndrome – or any diversity, for that matter – as you are likely to hear.

It comes from a sweet and insightful short film Tying Your Own Shoes, 16 minutes of wisdom and whimsy from four artists with Down syndrome. They were part of a summer animation workshop offered by filmmaker Shira Avni, who challenged them to create self-portraits on celluloid. The results are nothing short of wonderful.

You can meet the artists and experiment with animation techniques at a couple of free screenings at the National Film Board in Toronto this month.

Matthew Brotherwood, Daninah Cummins, Katherine Newton and Petra Tolley are the animators.

Brotherwood, 22, came to Montreal from England when he was 18 months old. He volunteers at community cafes, attends the Concordia University Centre for the Arts in Human Development and is an accomplished downhill skier, swimmer and track and field athlete.

Cummins, (Ninah, to her friends) is 41 and works with Community Living Toronto creating artwork and jewellery for sale. Among other things, she loves theatre and Dolly Parton.

Newton, 22, works as a helper in a preschool/kindergarten for kids with special needs, plays piano, swims and rides horses. She also fills sketchbooks with abstract drawings of joyful colour grids.

Tolley, 36, is a member of the Common Ground Co-operative, a partnership of people with intellectual disabilities. She has a black belt in karate, bikes, rollerblades, swims – you name it.

All are fiercely independent. All have sharp insights into the meaning of life.

Filmmaker Avni, a director and animator at the National Film Board of Canada and an assistant professor of animation at Concordia University, knew that the four artists speak volumes through their work but she wanted the world to hear their voices, to learn about Down syndrome in the first person.

It's all there in Tying Your Own Shoes: their hopes, their dreams, their take on life. What it was like growing up. The difference between what others see looking at them and what they see in themselves.

"People stare but they don't see inside," says Brotherwood. "It's a special kind of hero you have inside you."

Of love, he says: "I hope so. Don't know who yet."

Newton talks about her visions of being an artist in her own right and one day mounting a show of her work. "All the visions in my head are colourful," she says.

Tying Your Own Shoes launches March 14 at 10 a.m. at the National Film Board on John St. Afterward, you can take part in a special workshop with the animation facilitators and the artists. It will give you a chance to experiment with the different artistic techniques used in the film, in order to get an in-depth sense of the artists' creative process. Original works by the artists will also be on display.

"Animation is a medium uniquely suited to communicating complex topics and emotions in a short time format," Avni explains in a director's statement about the film. "It provides a gentle but effective means to break down stereotypes and stimulate alternate ways of thinking. It gets under the radar, so to speak."