‘Crip Camp’ Filmmakers Newnham and Lebrecht Revisit Their Sundance Hit in Honor of International Day of Persons With Disabilities

In anticipation for International Day of Persons With Disabilities, Crip Camp filmmakers Nicole Newnham and James Lebrecht speak with Awards Daily about their 2020 Sundance hit.

Earlier this year, Crip Camp took Sundance by storm introducing audiences to Camp Jened – the summer camp of the late 60s and early 70s that gave disabled young adults the opportunity to fully explore and experience their youth without the confines of an ableist society. Taking place just down the road from Woodstock, the documentary took audiences back to the nostalgic roots of summer camps, first loves, and sexual expression with filmmakers Nicole Newnham and James Lebrecht utilizing those universal experiences to introduce viewers to the birth of the modern disability rights movement.

While their own life experiences that they brought to the film couldn’t be more different, it led to one of the most dynamic filmmaking partnerships in recent memory. Lebrecht, a professional sound mixer and first-time filmmaker, is one of the original attendees of Camp Jened and lifelong wheelchair user who brought his own lived experience and personal relationships to the project. Newnham however is an award-winning filmmaker who has lived her life as an able-bodied woman who, just like many watching the film, experienced these stories for the first time through the incredible archival footage.

In anticipation of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, filmmakers Nicole Newnham and James Lebrecht spoke with Awards Daily about their partnership and what they hope disabled and able-bodies audiences alike gain from their groundbreaking and award winning documentary.

Awards Daily: I’m curious, Jim when did you decide you wanted to adapt your story into a documentary and why both of you think that now is the perfect time for a film like Crip Camp?

James Lebrecht: There’s no time like the present. Nicole and I had our first conversation six years ago. Initially we thought we would have this film out by 2018 but in reality it took much longer. Working in documentary filmmaking for decades in the Bay Area in sound mixing I have gotten to work with some of the best filmmakers including Nicole. I had known her for 15 years and had worked as a sound mixer on three of her past films. When she was wrapping up Revolutionary Optimist I took her out to lunch. I hold her in high regard as a great filmmaker. I really wanted to pitch her some of my ideas because as someone with a disability I wasn’t seeing the types of films I knew could have a huge impact.

It was at the end of our lunch that I turned to her sheepishly and said that I had always hoped there could be a documentary about the summer camp that I had went to. I just knew there ws something to explore there about these people going from the NY area to Berkeley with a strong connection to the disability rights and independent living movement.

Nicole Newnham: For me, a number of things collided. I’ve gotten to know Jim over 15 years both as a sound mixer and as a friend. He is someone who is working tirelessly on behalf of people with disabilities to breakdown barriers within our own industry. Fighting to make sure filmmakers are represented at film festivals, making sure retreat centers are accessible, and raising awareness that disability is a civil rights issue that should be treated alongside other aspects of diversity.

I was compelled by the world view around disability as a civil rights issue. When he introduced me to this story it seemed like an incredible way to shift the way that other people thought. Both through a story that was filled with humor and music and pathos and teenage angst; these things that would make it a great ride but also things that I associate with Jim! These are things that people don’t typically associate with disability. The more I learned about the disability civil rights movement the more I frankly couldn’t believe there hadn’t already been a powerful cinematic representation of that movement. The opportunity to connect those two things was extremely enticing.

The question of why now, well it felt like it was too late. Why did this great movement happen and why weren’t we aware of it? Why are people still struggling for so long? What we tried to do was use this story to get across these pain points, to get people to understand. It was also clear that a major film about disability history should be made by a person with a disability. Instead of directing it on my own I knew we had to direct it together and use his own personal perspective as a way into this story.

AD: Speaking of your creative partnership you both bring in your own completely different life experiences and perspectives. How did that affect your work together on the film?

JL: You could say polar opposites because I was born with spina bifida, unable to walk my whole life, and am a wheelchair user while Nicole has none of that but I think there is so much commonality in who we are. In regard to people in our hearts, in how we think about film.

In reality it worked well for both of us. We had a great deal of trust to where we could talk about anything. There were no stupid questions. I learned a lot along the way and it has been a phenomenal collaboration that I could talk about for hours. What we both brought to the table is so important.

NN: I totally agree about the commonality. The difference created some creative friction that you see in the film. One of my favorite interviews that we did was with an incredible political activist who is a very close friend of Jim, Corbett O’Toole. When we showed up for the interview she said, ‘Jim I wouldn’t have agreed to this interview if it wasn’t for you being a director and I wouldn’t be talking like this if it wasn’t to you.’

That was the perspective we wanted the film to have. This inside out perspective that felt like an intimate conversation amongst friends accounting their own important history to each other. By the same token sometimes I would ask questions that were the outside perspective but in that safe environment it would provoke really profound answers because I said the wrong thing. I remember asking Corbett how much anger motivated her during the sit in. That was when she said, ‘The world always wants us dead and we know that. Disabled people have always known that. You call it anger but I call it drive. It’s a need to survive.’

We wanted the film to appeal to a disabled audience. We wanted them to see the reality of the lived experience of disability portrayed in an authentic way. We also wanted non-disabled people to be welcomed in because disability is a spectrum of human existence that impacts all of us. We will all become disabled at some point in our life whether temporarily or permanently. One in three households has someone with a disability. It’s a part of life and having that inside and outside perspective helped us present it that way.

AD: As we’ve discussed the film features some incredible archival footage both of Camp Jened and the movement across America. Jim, what was it like for you to revisit those memories years later through the footage and Nicole, what was your initial reaction seeing it all for the first time?

JL: When we ended up with a hard drive with 5 ½ hours of black and white footage shot by the People’s Video Theatre at Camp Jened, it was like opening up a time capsule. It was incredibly bittersweet. There are people that I miss that are no longer alive and now I get to see them and experience them in their youth alongside me in my youth. When we were in post-production I felt this sense of sadness knowing it was ending soon because it felt like I was going back to camp every day.

This experience triggered so many memories for me. As we’ve been out in the world with the film it has trigged so many great stories. I feel incredibly fortunate.

NN: The footage was electrifying to watch for the first time. Jim and I sat there and watched the entire 5 ½ hours without stopping. At one point I remember turning to Jim and saying, ‘I think this is really incredible.’ All I wanted to do was keep watching and watching and watching. Of course, Jim was wiping tears out of his eyes because he was seeing people that he loved and missed. It was a much more profound response than I had but both of our jaws were on the floor.

I remember we were commenting on the incredible freshness of it. I don’t think any of the people who were involved in the filming besides the video collective were very media savvy or had even been filmed before. They had so much joy and grabbed the microphone to speak into the camera and interacting with the crew in such an open, charming way. It felt unmediated compared to footage we see now. It brought me back to my own childhood when everything was freer and wilder; a time when young people were given so much more license to discover themselves. That was thrilling to see.

I remember seeing the scene for the first time where they were sitting around the picnic table talking about their parents. Jim was moderating this conversation as a 15 year old and seeing him like this blew my mind! Seeing the patience and the way that that group of young people has come into community with each other and the way they respected their diverse experiences and their patience for one another was something I had never seen before. Jim and I decided that the entire camp part of the film should lead up to that conversation. If we could bring the audience along with us to experience that through the eyes of the camera it would be an amazing thing to achieve.