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Tribeca 2010 – Monica and David

posted by Women & Hollywood
Monday, May 3, 2010 at 3:50pm CDT

I was able to take in a couple of films at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. I wish I could have seen more, but that’s life. The three films I saw were all female directed: Cairo Time by Ruba Nadda; Monica and David by Ali Codina; and Joan Rivers -- A Piece of Work by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg.

All three of these films will have a life after the festival circuit. Cairo Time will be released by IFC in August (I will hopefully have an interview with the director at that time), and they will also release Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work next month. I highly recommend both of these films.

But first up is Monica and David which will be playing the festival circuit for the next couple of months before premiering on HBO in October. This film won the best documentary award at the festival last week. It is the very moving story of two people -- Monica and David -- living and negotiating the world with Down Syndrome.

I found the film fascinating and compelling. We spend so much time seeing people with developmental disabilities but never really listening to them and to their wants and desires. This film really gives voice to the voiceless. These are two people who just want to be accepted and do the things everyone else can. But they can’t, and the people who know the best are their very loving families. I was so impressed by the way the families dealt with their relationship.

After Monica and David got married (in a very traditional and lovely ceremony) they settled into married life living with Monica’s mother Maria Elena and stepfather Bob (who recently adopted her.) It was also interesting to note that both David and Monica’s biological fathers had abandoned them and have little to no contact with them.

Maria Elena and Bob are overprotective. David wants to work because he wants some independence and some money of his own. But Maria Elena and Bob don’t want David to work in the local supermarket because they don’t want people to look at him differently. They want to protect him at all costs. But at the same time they worry. They worry about what will happen to the couple when they are no longer around to take care of them. Most of all what the film showed is that there are no easy answers.

Check out the trailer for Monica and David:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su78LXwMJtY