Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy

Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy, directed by Academy Award nominee Alice Elliott, is a rare look at an unusual relationship between two people some would call profoundly disabled. Two remarkable advocates for people with disabilities, Diana Braun, who has Down Syndrome, and Kathy Conour, who has cerebral palsy, met three decades ago and vowed to live independent lives. Fearful of being shut away in a nursing home or forced into a state-run institution, Diana and Kathy broke the rules, escaped the system and modeled a grand experiment in independent living. Told in an intimate, vérité style, Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy is a story of profound creative friendship and about making a difference.

Alice Elliott is known for making intimate films about people who are traditionally overlooked. For five years, Elliott was allowed extraordinary access to Diana and Kathy's lives so she could introduce mainstream audiences to a way of life rarely seen on screen.

Trailer

Credits

Director/Producer/Cinematographer: Alice Elliott
Producer: Simone Pero
Editor: Rose Rosenblatt
Composer: Rick Baitz
Total Running Time: 40 min.
Website: www.dianaandkathy.com

About The Filmmaker

ALICE ELLIOTT has worked in theater, film and television for over 35 years. She is an Academy Award-nominated director, a writer, producer, actress, parent, college-level teacher, advocate for the disabled, cinematographer, New Day film distribution cooperative member-owner, wife and voiceover artist. Her short documentary The Collector of Bedford Street was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002. It went to over 50 film festivals and won 18 awards.

Elliott has several other documentaries in production, including 2 Weddings and a Future about the Christian and Hindu weddings of Carrie and Sujeet Desai, a couple with Down Syndrome. She is completing shooting on One World, Everybody Eats, about Denise Cerreta and her mission to end world hunger with innovative pay-what-you think-the-meal-is-worth restaurants. In summer 2009, Elliott completed most of the filming on The Callicoon Center Band, a documentary that celebrates 75 years of a small town community band and the community that makes it possible.

Currently she is directing The Miracle on 42nd Street, a feature-length documentary about an innovative, 30- year-old housing project called Manhattan Plaza. The two towers on 42nd Street provide mixed and subsidized housing for performing artists.

Awards

American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Media Award
Council on Foundations Film & Video Festival: Henry Hampton Award
Heartland Film Festival: Crystal Heart Award Talking Pictures Film Festival: Best Documentary National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists: Award for Excellence, Short Film Documentary
IDA Short Documentary Award: Nomination