Producer – Cindy Marshall

28 minutes, 1993

In Distribution

This elegant video profiles Lisa Thorson, a successful jazz singer, who uses a wheelchair. Artfully weaving performance footage with interviews, it demonstrates how through her work as a singer, she challenges stereotypes and advocates for people with disabilities. With her subtle ways of confronting prejudices, Thorson embodies her own view that the greatest form of advocacy for people with disabilities happens when they are, “out in the community visibly doing what they do best.”

“A skillful and sensitive portrayal, powerful and uplifting. Because Thorson thinks of herself as a performer first and as a disabled person second, the viewer does too.”
–Sally Cragin, The Boston Globe

Major funding was provided by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Women in Film Foundation, Open Meadows Foundation, Funding Exchange