By Ed Diokno
“Right Footed” is the documentary chosen to close CAAMFest 2016, which began March 10.
The subject of the film is Jessica Cox, who has famously eliminated the words “I can’t” from her vocabulary. Although born without arms as the result of a birth defect, she has never allowed that to be a limiting factor.
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While she suffered from self-esteem issues early on and physical challenges throughout her life, Jessica managed to overcome and achieve — earning a college degree and a Taekwondo black belt, learning to drive a car with her feet, type with her toes, and in 2008 fly an airplane.
That feat landed the Filipina American in the Guinness Book of World Records and led to an audience with the Pope, meetings with heads of state, and a great deal of media attention.
The documentary is both a portrait of Jessica’s unexpected journey as she becomes a disability activist and a very personal story — spanning more than two-and-a-half years of her life during which time she gets married and begins a new life with her husband Patrick while also taking care of her mother Inez who is stricken with cancer. The film also reveals much about Jessica’s religious faith and the reasons that she does not see herself as a victim of her condition.
It is directed by Emmy-award winning Nick Sparks and produced by Bay Area resident Mona Lisa Yuchengco, founder and publisher of Filipinas Magazine. Yuchengco is also founder and chair of Philippine International Aid.
“Right Footed” will be shown March 20, Sunday, at the New Parkway Theater, 474 24th Street, Oakland. Showtimes, 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
After 11 nights, dozens of films and videos shown at a half dozen venues in San Francisco and Oakland, CAAMFest’s closing night party will follow the last screening at 9 p.m. at SomaR Bar, 1727 Telegraph Ave, Oakland,
(Ed Diokno writes a blog :Views From The Edge: news and analysis from an Asian American perspective.)
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