Join us in the Logan Media Center at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism for a very special screening of the award-winning documentary “Crip Camp” with alum Lauren Schwartzman (’18), Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht in conversation after the screening.

Seven other Berkeley Journalism alums received credit on the film: Award-winning Brazilian filmmaker and cinematographer Mario Furloni (‘11) and Zach Stauffer (‘08), director of “Who Killed Lt. Van Dorn,” provided additional cinematography. Others contributing included Mary Newman (‘18), who provided additional production support, and Spencer Silva (‘18), Liliana Michelena (‘18), Emma Schwartz (‘19) and Brian Krans (‘18) who had a hand in fact-checking. Read more about the film’s Berkeley connections here.

Schwartzman joined the production shortly after graduating following the success of her visually lyrical thesis film, “Dust Rising,” that won a Student Academy Award in 2018, was shortlisted for the BAFTA Student Film Awards, and screened in festivals across the U.S.

Lauren Schwartzman (right) pictured with co-directors Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht at the Sundance Film Festival.

About Crip Camp

In the early 1970s, teenagers with disabilities faced a future shaped by isolation, discrimination and institutionalization. Camp Jened, a ramshackle camp “for the handicapped” in the Catskills, exploded those confines. Jened was their freewheeling Utopia, a place with summertime sports, smoking and makeout sessions awaiting everyone, and campers who felt fulfilled as human beings. Their bonds endured as they migrated West to Berkeley, California – a promised land for a growing and diverse disability community – where friends from Camp Jened realized that disruption and unity might secure life-changing accessibility for millions. Co-directed by Emmy®-winning filmmaker Nicole Newnham and film mixer and former camper Jim LeBrecht, this joyous and exuberant documentary arrives the same year as the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, at a time when the country’s largest minority group still battles daily for the freedom to exist. CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION is executive produced by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama; Tonia Davis and Priya Swaminathan; Oscar nominee Howard Gertler and Ray Lifchez, Jonathan Logan and Patty Quillin; LeBrecht, Newnham and Sara Bolder produce.