BREAK A LEG
Logline
Undocumented Mexican performer Hector is preparing for a theatre play in Los Angeles when he loses his left leg in a motorcycle accident (2017). Moved by the tragedy, his acting colleague Juliana turns to filmmaking and uses it as a motivating and introspective tool for his recovery process. An intimate look into his new physical and mental reality, the first person documentary sets uncertainty and resilience at its core.
Synopsis
In pursuit of an acting career, Hector, an undocumented Mexican performer tries his luck in Los Angeles, CA, where he joins Teatro Dramma, a Latin-American theatre group led by award-wining subversive director Elia Schneider. The group starts a 2 year-long preparation for Citizens of the Gray, a non-verbal theatre play set to premiere in New York. One year before the opening night, Hector loses his left leg in a motorcycle accident. Aiming to motivate him, fellow colleague and filmmaker Juliana starts recording his recovery process. In this intimate first person documentary, Juliana follows Hector’s struggles to adapt to a new physical reality and the challenges he now faces as a performer. Following one year of intense rehearsals, Hector successfully performs in New York at Citizens of the Gray’s premiere. Not long after the premiere, Hector’s mental state aggravates as he finds himself out of acting gigs and isolated during COVID-19. During the pandemic, Elia has also been struggling with a rare degenerative disease. She sadly passed away in August 2020, her death representing a tremendous loss for Hector and the community at large. Herein BREAK A LEG’s aim is to authentically represent all the multifaceted events in Hector’s process of dealing with his disability whilst encountering loss, triumph, laughter, pain, and resilience.
Extensive Research
For the last couple of years (2017-2021), we have focused on doing extensive research on disability studies. We consider this stage is crucial for BREAK A LEG’s conceptualization and script development. As such, we carried out numerous calls with professors, writers, artists, therapists, disability studies researchers and the like, and gathered the necessary information for providing our story with a relevant context. The research phase will continue until the final editing weeks, given we are constantly collaborating with academic writers in disability studies. These feedback loops are of the utmost importance since our topic is sensitive and should be treated with the utmost attention and consideration.
Strong contacts
Ilan Manouach - disability organisations and communities advisor
Catalin Brylla - documentary and disability studies advisor
Jorge Dyszel - filmmaker on disability topics; advisor
Annelies van Noortjik - documentary studies advisor
Barend van Heusden - cultural cognition and research advisor
Themes
Destigmatizing disability.
BREAK A LEG stands at the intersection between documentary and disability studies, touching upon topics that tend to be either excluded from mainstream discourse or misrepresented through popular news media. One of the documentary’s main goals is to subvert the stereotypes used to portray people with disabilities and reflect on their perception and construction.
Creative expression, loss and lack.
The unique circumstances of Citizens of the Gray’s production allow us to explore whether art can function as a tool to deal with lack, loss and even trauma. Theatre is an art form that strengthens the social bond, playing a huge role in the development of behaviour, attitude and empathy. This combination of dimensions can help one to become self-conscious and selfreflexive, a process that aids for a better understanding of unfamiliar situations. These benefits can be very well observed in Teatro Dramma’s communal space.
Immigration.
Whereas disability and creative expression remain BREAK A LEG’s focus, immigration is an element that provides the story’s socio-political context. As an undocumented Mexican immigrant, Hector experiences exclusion from society numerous times. And still, in the midst of dealing with systematic oppression, Hector manages to find Teatro Dramma, a place defined by community and social inclusion. An immigrant herself, Elia devoted most of her previous works and workshops to social inclusion and activism, creating a space where the voices and stories of minorities could be heard.
We are currently in post-production. The documentary will be released in 2023.
For inquiries please contact us at
juliana@fractory.film