From the award-winning documentarians behind “Audrey,” “McQueen” and “Stardust,” comes a candid, lyrical, and intimate portrait of one family’s struggle to transcend a fatal muscle-wasting disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which in turn becomes an unlikely celebration of life with a disability, and a life cut short by rare disease. The feature-length documentary “A Space in Time” arrives in North America on June 1st.
Through an up-close, poetic, and frank lens, the film centers on a family surviving and thriving through the ups and downs of the disease. Having both been diagnosed with Duchenne, the two young sons, Theo and Oskar, navigate life gradually transitioning from walking to greater wheelchair dependency. Their story is told through their eyes and simultaneously via the eyes of their parents, director Nick Taussig and artist Klara Taussig, who must learn to cope with the inevitable reality of losing their children to an illness that currently has no cure.
“Disability is often poorly portrayed or misrepresented, its depiction seeking to elicit sympathy, a sense of tragedy, or worse still, pity, which helps neither someone living with disability nor someone living without it. Why are the able-bodied so often unable to see beyond the disability a person suffers from, and witness instead an individual who leads a rich and varied life, their disability just one aspect of them?” says Taussig.
Time is precious for families living with Duchenne, and though research towards a cure is vital, so is prompt access to medicines, treatments, and assistive provision and support, to increase the dignity and quality of life of children and adults with the disease. “A Space in Time” has partnered with nonprofit organizations across the U.S. and UK, such as Harrison’s Fund, Walking Strong and Coalition Duchenne not only to raise greater awareness about the debilitating disease but to also raise funds and advocate for greater access to the necessary support, medical and otherwise, for families affected by Duchenne. The film’s international social impact campaign will officially launch in late May.
“Disability isn’t something we talk about enough. Making a documentary like this brings these issues into the light and gives us a chance to have these hard conversations. We’re all in this life together and we need to support each other and to know how to support each other. Working with Nick on this very touching story has been an honor. Bohemia’s mission is to amplify marginalized communities, get people talking about these issues and create change in the world and bringing this film to audiences allows us to do this.” says Bohemia Media Founder, Phil Hunt.
“A Space in Time” is the story of a family seeking to transcend disability, with the two young boys at the heart of the film, and their parents ultimately left to wonder whether their rare disease and disability is not a weakness but instead a superpower, something extraordinary.
Available on VOD and Digital June 1st
