Review: A Mothers Courage: Talking Back To Autism
Despite the blunt activism of the secondary title , A Mothers Courage: Talking Back to Autismis a relatively benign probe into what is steadily becoming our species most alarming epidemic. Narrativizing the international research of one Icelandic parent determined to better understand her sons condition, if not gain the hope of fostering recovery, the film skittishly refuses to tackle any etiological theories that bear the hint of polemical accusation. As such, theres no hot-button testimony regarding casein or gluten, and no inquiry into the conspiratorial aura surrounding thimerosal .
Simply failing to acknowledge these aggressive debates doesnt immediately suggest a lack of incisiveness. The Dogme-inspired overexposure of the opening nature shots, where 10-year-old Keli flails about monochromatic tundra and volcanic hot springs, seems to prepare us for a personal, rather than a political or even clinical journey. What follows, however, is a hit-or-miss hodgepodge of talking heads that illuminate autism from a conservative, as-far-we-know perspective experts present trends in behavioral and neurological data while parents who confront the disability on a daily basis offer an in-the-trenches emotional portrait. And in attempting to diplomatically sidestep both the clichés of memoir and the controversial pressure points that a more comprehensive study would have fingered, director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson compromises the topic into public-broadcasting sterility.
Film Screening A Mothers Courage: Talking Back To Autism
Award winning actress Kate Winslet’s introduction to the film screening
Video: OCHA
The event will be opened with a special introduction by Mrs. Dorrit Moussaieff, First Lady of Iceland.
Poster of the film “A Mother’sCourage: Talking Back to Autism”
A Q& A session with Margret Ericsdottir, the films producer and mother of Keli will follow the screening.
Light refreshments will be provided.
The film screening is presented by the UN Department of Public Information, the Permanent Mission of Iceland to the United Nations, and the Golden Hat Foundation.
On 2 April 2012 in the Express Bar, on the 3rd floor of the General Assembly Building, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Kindly RSVP to .
Film Review By Frederic And Mary Ann Brussat
One in 150 children is diagnosed with autism every year. There are four times as many boys as girls afflicted with this mysterious and complex neurological disorder. Icelandic writer and director Fridrik Thor Fridriksson is at the helm of this uplifting documentary about Margaret Dagmar Ericsdottir’s quest to seek treatment for her 10-year-old son Keli, who has been diagnosed as severely autistic. It is clear from the outset that she is not seeking a miracle cure she wants concrete facts that can bolster her hope that someday he will be independent and able to express himself.
Traveling to the United States and Europe, Margaret interviews parents, scientists, and professionals, including Dr. Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of Autism Speaks Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge and Dr. David Amaral, research director of the Mind Institute. Temple Grandin, whose inspiring story recently was aired as a movie on HBO, provides many fascinating insights into the causes and nature of autism. Margaret speaks to parents who share the challenges of raising children who are hobbled by their social awkwardness, communication problems, and rigid and repetitive body movements. We also learn how autistic children respond to the world through their over-developed or under-developed senses of sight and sound.
Special features include an interview with the director and a resource guide.
First Run Features, 09/10
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Panel Discussion On World Autism Awareness Day: Delivering Answers Through Inclusive International Collaboration
The event will feature the public unveiling of the 2012 United Nations Postal Administration Autism Awareness Stamps.
The panel discussion is co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of the United States to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations and Autism Speaks.
Opening remarks will be delivered by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the President of the 66th Session of the General Assembly, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the UN and Autism Speaks founders Bob and Suzanne Wright.
The discussion will be moderated by award-winning journalist Christiane Amanpour, of CNN International.
On 3 April 2012 in the ECOSOC Chamber, North Lawn Building, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. Kindly RSVP to .
Hbo: A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back To Autism
International Autism Awareness Day is on Friday, April 2nd and what better way to celebrate than by watching an HBO documentary about a family from Iceland that travels to the United Kingdom, Denmark, and many different states in the US to find ways to help their child with autism?
Producer Margret Dagmar Ericsdottir decided to film her search to find help for her son, Keli, who is ten years old and severely effected by autism. Directed by Fridrik Thor Fridksson , and narrated by Oscar winner Kate Winslet, the film takes us to different places where Margret interviews parents, advocates, scientists and professionals. Temple Grandin, Ph.D., whose life story recently aired on HBO, provides insight, as does Dr. Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of Autism Speaks. Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, and Dr. David G. Amaral, research director, Mind Institute also provide food for thought.
This HBO film is a good resource for promoting community awareness that families can share with their relatives and neighbors. They will gain a better understanding of what families effected by autism go through every day .
In the film, we find out that luckily, Portia Iverson and Jonathan Shestack, co-founders of Cure Autism Now, wondered the same thing, and brought Soma Mukhopadhyay to the United States after hearing about how Soma had developed a method to teach her son, Tito.
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Launch Of Official Un Autism Awareness Stamps
The United Nations Postal Administration will issues stamps and first day covers on 2 April 2012 in recognition of World Autism Day. The stamps, and the eight artists who designed them, will together raise awareness about this important global cause. The final selection of the artwork was the result of a worldwide search for talented artists with autism who were eager to share their designs with the UNPA.
The stamps will be launched at the United Nations Post Offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna.
Book Signing By Margret D Ericsdottir Co
Award winning actress Kate Winslet’s message on the launch of her new book
Video: OCHA
Kate Winslets new book, ” The Golden Hat: Talking Back to Autism” will be sold during the “Meet the Author” series on World Autism Awareness Day. This book features never seen before self-portraits of 100 A-list celebrities all wearing a magical, “Golden Hat.” The book celebrates self-expression, from the unique self-portraits and quotes of celebrities, to the writing of Keli, a 14-year-old boy with nonverbal autism.
Cover of Kate Winslet’s new book”The Golden Hat: Talking Backto Autism”
Autographed books by Kate Winslet will be available for sale on a first-come / first-serve basis.
After a video presentation featuring Kate Winslet, co-author Margret D. Ericsdottir will introduce the book and Ms. Winslets charity, the Golden Hat Foundation.
A brief Q& A session will follow the book-signing by co-authors Margret D. Ericsdottir and her son, Keli Thorsteinsson.
The book signing is presented by the UN Department of Public Information, the Permanent Mission of Iceland to the United Nations and the Golden Hat Foundation.
On 2 April 2012 in the United Nations Bookshop, on the Concourse Level of the General Assembly Building, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm. No RSVP required.
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Press Briefing The Forgotten Half Of Autism
This press briefing will focus on the “the forgotten half of autism”, those without functional communication.
Three researchers in the field will speak:
- Dr. Margret Bauman of Harvard University Medical School,
- Prof. April Benasich, Director of the Infancy Studies Laboratory, at Rutgers University and
- Prof. John F. Connolly, Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Language at McMaster University.
The press briefing is presented by the UN Department of Public Information, the Permanent Mission of Iceland to the United Nations, and the Golden Hat Foundation.
On 2 April 2012 in the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. The event is for members of the press only.
Talking Back To Talking Back To Autism
Youve got to wonder how many of the enthusiastic reviewers of A Mothers Courage: Talking Back to Autismin the NYTimes, in the LA Times, and on NPRactually watched, through anything but tear-blurred eyes, the final scenes of the movie. Youve got to wonder the same thing about the various autism experts who appear in the movie: David G. Amaral, PhD, Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD, Geraldine Dawson, Phd, and Catherine Lord, PhD. .
First released in 2009 as The Sunshine Boy, and later as an HBO documentary, A Mothers Courage tips its hand within its first ten minutes. On a pilgrimage from Iceland to the US to learn more about autism, the mother in question, Margret Dagmar Ericsdottir, is shown seated on an airplane with a copy of Portia Iversens Strange Son in her lap. Strange Son recounts Iversens efforts to bring Soma Mukhopadhyay and her Rapid Prompting Method from India to the US to unlock Iversens son and other non-speaking American autistics. Having foreshadowed the miracles to come, the film takes a long and winding road, making stops at the offices of the autism experts, Temple Grandins ranch, the homes of several autism families, and an ABA clinic, with detours through the countryside and rough shores of Iceland with Ericsdottirs family, including her two non-autistic older sons and the severely autistic Keli. Then the film reaches its destination and devotes its final act to Soma.
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