'Deaf President Now!' directors Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, along with participants Tim Rarus, Jerry Covell, Greg Hlibok and Bridgetta Bourne-Firl stop by THR's studio in Park City to talk all about "the most important civil rights moment in history." DiMarco reveals when he first heard the story, while the participants share that he's the first deaf person to approach them about turning this into a film.
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00:00Things happen for a reason, you know, as time went on.
00:04We were so excited about getting this movie out and helping the world to see where we
00:09are, who we are as a people.
00:11We are cool, fun, deaf people to begin with.
00:21So I first learned the story of Deaf President Now when I was in second grade, and my mom
00:26told me this story, actually.
00:28My mom is also deaf, and my entire family had known this history.
00:33You know, this is a story that's been passed down generation to generation.
00:37Not so much an oral history, if you will, but sort of one on the hands.
00:41And the protest is incredibly well known within our world, but the hearing world doesn't know
00:46anything about the most important civil rights moment in our history.
00:50And this protest really is about four incredible student leaders sat with me here who led the
00:57way.
00:58You know, Gallaudet University had finally received a deaf president after 124 years
01:04of hearing paternalism due to their efforts.
01:07It's surprising that I didn't know about it, because I grew up in Washington, D.C., miles
01:12away from Gallaudet.
01:13I knew about Gallaudet, but I never knew about the protests.
01:17And so when Niall brought the idea to my company, I was like, oh, that's incredible.
01:24And we have to tell this story to the world, because these four people were teenagers.
01:32And in this moment where it could have gone good or bad, it was these four teenagers who
01:40said we believe in collective action, and we're going to fight for our rights.
01:46It was actually quite easy to convince them.
01:48I'm incredibly lucky.
01:50You know, when approaching them about this story, you know, I certainly was not the first.
01:54They had been approached many times before me.
01:57But when I was able to reach out to them, you know, they all told me, you're the first
02:01deaf person to ask us to make a film about this.
02:03And I think that's what made it much easier for them to say yes.
02:06Thank God.
02:07And anything for Niall.
02:09Right, right.
02:10He's a model.
02:11Honestly.
02:12A model citizen.
02:13We wanted authenticity.
02:14We wanted to make sure that it was very clear.
02:15Also, we wanted to make it clear that we did not want our characters or our, we didn't
02:29want any movie drama or anything altered from this.
02:33We wanted to stick straight to the story.
02:36And it was like, wow, I'm so impressed that they did it.
02:40So we've been waiting for this moment to happen and wondering, he'd come to us, you
02:48know, after about 30 years of the protest having happened, but then opportunities had
02:53fallen through previous to this.
02:55But when Niall came to me first, I knew that Niall would be able to pull things together
03:02and make it happen.
03:03And he did.
03:04We believed in him.
03:06And we had a successful delivery of this story.
03:09And like Jerry said, we wanted the story to be told as accurately as possible without
03:13a lot of twisting or dramatization.
03:17And the story has been told really as accurate as our personal experiences were.
03:22Different groups over these years have come to us to propose maybe having a film.
03:27Dolly Parton's company, oh, I forget it, Sand Dollar Company approached us, but that didn't
03:33work out.
03:34And, you know, like many other films, sometimes it doesn't work out.
03:39But, you know, back in the day, they said, well, maybe we will create this, you know,
03:42pointing to me, having me, you know, having sex with a police officer during the protest
03:48and then making someone else be a druggie and then we could get busted and things like
03:52that.
03:53And at that time, we said, wait a minute.
03:54No, no, no, no.
03:55You know, we hadn't even started our profession working as career professionals.
03:58We were in our 20s and we were we did not want that to happen.
04:02So, you know, over the years, we wanted a documentary, you know, we've always said we
04:07want to tell our story, but just didn't have the opportunity until now.
04:11And, you know, with Niall, it's just he's the perfect person.
04:14You know, he was the perfect person to be born on Earth and make this happen for us
04:18and for our film.
04:19Davis.
04:22He was relentless, just kept asking questions, asking questions to try to pull things out
04:27of me, because some things I had kind of forgotten.
04:31We're talking about 34 years ago.
04:34So I was like, wow.
04:35So I was really impressed that now watching the movie, I'm like, wow, that really.
04:39Yeah, he really did pull a lot out of me.
04:41I remember that and seeing the other three, you know, they did amazing as well.
04:48Parts of the story were surprising.
04:52So how naive I was and looking back, I really was a kid, but then realizing how I made it
05:00through without any handler at the time, you know, and it worked out.
05:05So I think that we recognized what we thought of each other at the time as well.
05:11And like, oh, that was a reminder that what we thought of each other at the time, there
05:18were little everyday nuances that at the moment we set aside for the bigger and greater
05:23work, the greater cause that we were unified for.
05:26Deaf President now is representative of deaf people in the fact that we have diversity
05:32within our community.
05:33We have a whole ecosystem of people.
05:35We have greater goals, though, that join us together.
05:38And those little disagreements, what we think of each other, those little dislikes can be
05:44set aside for us to come together as a community for one cause.
05:47The story of Deaf President now, I feel, is so much for the deaf community.
05:52I think it's very important for us to get this history correct.
05:56You know, I want this story to be told in the most authentic light.
06:00And while it's something that most deaf people know and have experienced, it's something
06:05that is important for us to respect.
06:07But at the same time, I want this to re-inspire my community.
06:11That's very key.