Perfectly Normal For Me screens on Saturday at 1pm at Village Theatre as part of the Coronado Island Film Festival.
Alexandria, Jake, Caitlin and Veronica, ages 5 to 15, reveal in their own words what it’s like to deal with the literal ups and downs of a challenged life. In this intimate verité doc, four charismatic kids strive for acceptance in a world that is often, at best, indifferent to them.
from “Perfectly Normal for Me”
Their exceptional parents search out programs where their children are accepted and feel valued, from clinical services to adaptive skiing. We first meet them all in a unique after-school dance program in Queens, New York. With a diverse group of dedicated teenage volunteers – outstanding citizens in a world where the impulse to exclude, bully or ignore is too often the norm – dancers and helpers work together for a year toward a jubilant spring recital. Thanks to the joy they find in working together, dancers and helpers emerge as eloquent, energized voices for inclusion. When the fate of the disabled, in fact the future of all minorities, is suddenly, once again at risk, these young people fill us with hope.
Catherine Tambini, (director/producer) is an award-winning filmmaker. Most recently she directed and co-produced HATE RISING WITH JORGE RAMOS for a coproduction of HBO and Univision Story House winning Outstanding Documentary at the National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Awards. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for THE STATE OF ARIZONA (CINE Golden Eagle winner, broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens), and won the Sundance Special Jury Award (among many other awards) for FARMINGVILLE (broadcast on PBS’s POV) both directed and produced in partnership with Carlos Sandoval. She co- produced the Academy Award®-nominated SUZANNE FARRELL: ELUSIVE MUSE about George Balanchine’s iconic ballerina that premiered at the New York Film Festival and aired on PBS’s Great Performances/Dance in America. She produced and directed ART AND HEART: THE WORLD OF ISAIAH SHEFFER that premiered at Lincoln Center at the NY Jewish Film Festival. She field produced and shot portions of MTV’s I’M FROM ROLLING STONE and TLC’s PAGEANT PERFECT. She is currently producing and directing PERFECTLY NORMAL FOR ME about kids we first meet in an after-school dance program. In addition to her documentary work she has also assisted in the production design of many well-known Hollywood films including THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, TRUE COLORS, and THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS.
Ms. Tambini is a Sundance Institute and a MacArthur Foundation grantee.
Originally from upstate New York, Dani Schwartz has lived in Coronado since 1996. She is happy to call Coronado home and to have raised her children here. In her free time she enjoys reading, exercising, trying new restaurants, and just walking her dog around the "island." Have news to share? Send tips or story ideas to: [email protected]
