“FACE FIRST”

Distributor: Fanlight Productions, Boston.
(949) 722-7720

BROADCAST BY PBS AFFILIATES COAST TO COAST

To purchase or rent a VHS:

http://www.fanlight.com/catalog/films/259_ff.shtml

The filmmaker and 3 others with facial birth defects grow up tested by surgery and ostracism but emerge with unusual strengths that shape their careers. An invitation for the viewer to stare without being “caught” – but with the risk that the surface will give way.

The filmmaker: “After childhood surgeries, my scar is barely noticeable. As for the others, I wanted to know what it was like for them growing up, how similar or different our experiences were. At some stages, whereas I regressed, they advanced. What I really wanted was evidence that I could let the mask slip, just a little, and still survive. After all, there was a time I didn’t have one.”

Running time: 29 minutes

FESTIVALS / AWARDS

CINE
   Golden Eagle

National Educational Media Network
   Silver Apple Award

Pacific Northwest Festival of Fictional and Anthropological Cinema
   Grand Jury Prize

Charlotte Film Festival
   Judge’s Cash Prize

Superfest International Media Festival on Disabilities
   Achievement and Spirit Awards

Canyonlands Festival
   Most Inspirational Film

National Health Information Awards
   Merit Award

Selected: Windy City International Documentary Festival, Dallas Film and Video Festival, Louisville Film and Video Festival, Western Psychological Association and American Cleft Palate/Craniofacial Association conferences

REVIEWS

“At times heartbreaking, yet always honest and intimate, ‘Face First’ reveals how inner strength can grow despite daily prejudice and needless ridicule. A raw but surprisingly humorous film.”
   Tina DeFeliciantonio, “Girls Like Us” (PBS), Emmy Award winner

“One of the best films I’ve seen on the subject.”
   Anna Pileggi, executive director, AboutFace International support
   network

“ ‘Face First’ would be a dramatic introduction to any disability-awareness curriculum from 4th grade through medical school.”
   Let’s Face It USA, resource network

“During the delivery, after you had been born, he said to me very snidely, ‘Mrs. Grundmann, just how many more children do you plan to have?’ ”

“The nurse in the delivery room said, ‘You don’t want this announced, do you?’ ”

“Because my head circumference was very small, the doctors labeled me severely, profoundly retarded.”

“I was too small for anesthesia, so they gave me a shot of whisky.”

“I looked at the ground till I was 10, pretty much.”

“Under local anesthesia, there’s nothing like the sound of breaking bone, and to know that it’s your face that’s being hit with a hammer.”

“At my school bus stop, a group of boys called me Creature. And I put all my energy into pretending it didn’t bother me.”

“I would say to her, ‘Khrista, if someone is staring at you, particularly a grown-up,’ I said, ‘you just stare right back!’ ”

“They were beating you up as you got off the bus.”

“In junior high I took up weightlifting.”

“I have a boyfriend, and my parents were very shocked when I brought him home. It was the disfigurement. They didn’t think anybody would be able to see through that.”

“Shallow people shy away from me. So it’s sort of like a self-selecting mechanism for having really good friends.”

USES FOR “Face First”

Junior high / high school: health, self-esteem/character development, disability awareness

College/university: psychology, sociology, social anthropology, social work, disability studies

Medical / nursing schools

Hospitals: interdisciplinary craniofacial teams, affected families

Workplace: employee, management and human resources diversity training

Home: affected families and individuals

Churches

PRODUCTION CREDIT

Associate editor: Marlon E. Fuentes

LINKS

Resource and support networks for individuals, families and professionals:
   Let’s Face It USA: www.faceit.org
   AboutFace International: www.aboutfaceinternational.org

 

“I never shook the belief that my birth defect defined me.”