Dwight Core Sr., took home movies of his son, Dwight Jr., who was born with Down syndrome, during the boy's childhood. He recorded voiceovers of his own thoughts and the imagined thoughts of his young, disabled boy.Decades later the elder Core’s grandson (Dwight Jr.'s nephew) found and restored that footage. He used it, along with contemporary video of the then-adult Dwight, Jr. to create a documentary, "Think of Me First as a Person." It was praised at film festivals for its honest portrayal of the lives of the disabled during an era of mental institutions. The Library of Congress chose the documentary from hundreds of films to be preserved in the National Film Registry.
Now the Virginian-Pilot has created a heartwarming two-part video story about Dwight, Jr. and his four loving and supportive sisters today, inspired by (and incorporating footage from) the heralded documentary -- and by the recent passing of Dwight at age 48.
View it here: My Favorite Child.
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1 comment:
Thanks for writing the blog entry. My grandfather made the original film. Years later, I was able to restore the film which then led, as you put it, a video about a video about a video - though I'd stop at "a video about a video." The original film has a website thinkofmefirstasaperson.com - also a facebook fan page which has attracted a large community within the Down Syndrome community.
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