WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...
AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER

For Immediate Release
(January 19, 1995, St. Paul, MN ) - The Independent Television Service (ITVS) presents WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER, an irreverent road movie in the form of an hour-long documentary about disability, civil rights, and the search for intelligent life after brain damage. The first "no apologies" look at the true and unfiltered experiences of America's disabled by those who live it, WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER takes a subject which audiences usually find depressing and think they know about, and turns it on its head. As writer/co-producer and "tour guide," Billy Golfus wryly notes: "This ain't exactly your inspirational cripple story." Produced and directed by Golfus and David E. Simpson, WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER will be screened at Sundance begining Friday, January 20th at 3:30 PM at the Park City Library.

WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...is told in first-person narrative by Golfus - an award winning journalist, radio disc jockey, writer, and self-proclaimed rock'n'roll beatnik - who wakes from a coma following a traffic accident only to find himself brain damaged, hemiplegic, and suddenly dependent on others. "It's a good thing I had a helmet in the trunk in case I needed it."

In turn funny, shocking, and wonderfully real, the program follows Billy as he encounters a labyrinth of professional "helping" systems, blatant discrimination, and negative attitudes about a "fate worse than death." Billy's meeting with his social worker to discuss "spend down" (where the government determines how much earned money is too much earned money for those receiving Social Security Income payments) plays like an Abbott and Costello routine. Except, of course, that it's for real and Billy's situation is not unique. There are over 49 million Americans living with disabilities, constituting the country's largest "equal-opportunity" minority - anyone can join.

According to Simpson, himself an independent filmmaker, teacher, and award-winning producer, "This is definitely not your typical, talking-head advocacy documentary. It's a road movie filled with character, irreverence, and wit. I hope it jeopardizes all preconceived notions about disability and the disabled."

Black humor keeps the viewer laughing as the filmmakers show easily recognizable government types, scenes from popular movies and TV, and examples of negative attitudes expressed towards persons with disabilities. Stoutly rejecting the common labels of "victim" and "saint," WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD... gives viewers an inside view of the minutiae of disabled people's daily lives. We watch as they wheel around, get lifted and moved about, manipulate mechanical devices, and otherwise get things done in their own particular ways. "Perhaps for the first time, you get to stare at disabled people. It's what everyone wants to do and were told not to," says Golfus.

Through the accumulation of personal stories and encounters, viewers are visually confronted with the idea that disabled people's greatest barrier is not physical or mental disability, but misconceived attitudes toward the disabled. We meet people with varying disabilities whose lives confront our misconceptions.

There's Robin Stephans, who speaks and moves with major impairment. It only took her two days to learn to drive, but it took her eight years to fight the system and get a driving test. Now Stephans drives her own van. Kay Gaddis is certified as legally blind but is required each year to complete a 34-page document and must recertify her blindness every six months. Flipping through reams of forms, she's able to make out that some are yellow. "These are yellow," she drawls. "They must be important." Lee Swenson, a 55-year-old former policeman with Lou Gehrig's disease, lives "institutionalized" in a nursing home at great expense to the health care system and against Swenson's wishes. He's fighting for a lower cost, more independent alternative. A home living assistant would allow Swenson his privacy and his dignity. Despite the considerable savings, Medicare refuses. Ed Roberts, paralyzed from the neck down, breathes with a respirator and sleeps in an iron lung. His employment prospects were branded "infeasible" by a state rehabilitation service. Fourteen years later he was appointed director of that same agency.

WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER is one of only 14 documentaries featured in competition at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. The production has already received an awards from the Independent Documentary Association (along with Academy hopeful Hoop Dreams and last year's Oscar winner, I Am A Promise), as well as awards from the Chicago International Festival and the Leipzig Festival for Documentary (Germany).

For the first time, audiences will learn something true and unfiltered about the experience of millions of Americans from the perspective of disabled people themselves - speaking with their own voices. As Billy says, "Like most everyone, I thought disabled people were supposed to act tragic and brave or else cute and inspirational, but these people weren't sticking to the script."

Jim Yee, ITVS executive director, says, "Billy and David's proposal came to ITVS during our second general call in 1992: An intriguing idea, two passionate producers, and a lot of heart. WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD... goes beyond the stereotypes and inside the issues as they are lived and experienced by millions. We don't often see that, although we must. Now we can."

WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER is scheduled for national public television broadcast on Tuesday, May 23, 1995, at 10 PM/EST on PBS. (Check local public television listings.).

WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...is one of four ITVS funded presentations featured in this year's Sundance documentary competition. The others are BLACK IS...BLACK AIN'T, THE DEVIL NEVER SLEEPS, A LITANY FOR SURVIVAL: THE LIFE AND WORK OF AUDRE LORDE.

The screening of WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER will be preceded by Kenji's Faith, a short narrative by Eric Byler. Festival screening dates, times, and locations in Park City, Utah, are as follows:

Friday    1/20   3:30 PM   Park City Library
Sunday    1/22   4:00 PM   Holiday Village Cinema
Wednesday 1/25   4:00 PM   Holiday Village Cinema
Friday    1/27   10:40 AM  Holiday Village Cinema

About ITVS

Established by an act of Congress "to encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities," ITVS receives funding - approximately six million dollars per year - through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Currently ITVS has over 80 single programs and eight limited series either in production or in public television distribution. Recent productions include the series DECLARATIONS: ESSAYS ON AMERICAN IDEALS, THE RIDE, and TV FAMILIES; and single programs such as A QUESTION OF COLOR, ZERO STREET, STOLEN MOMENTS: RED HOT + COOL, and ANATOMY OF A SPRINGROLL. Five ITVS-funded presentations were featured at Sundance '94: DOTTIE GETS SPANKED, NIGHT RIDE, THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUSES, and FAMILY REMAINS (parts of the TV FAMILIES series) and COMING OUR UNDER FIRE. Both COMING OUR UNDER FIRE and FAMILY REMAINS received 1994 Sundance Juror's Awards.

For more information about WHEN BILLY BROKE HIS HEAD...AND OTHER TALES OF WONDER, please call Tim Shea (Blakeley & Co) at 612/377-7988 (fax: 612/377-6969).