Walking TALL

WALKING TALL 

July 6, 2014 

Creativity has helped documentary film maker Jason Da Silva battle a degenerative disease. His latest film When I walk documents this.


LISA ANN MONTEIRO

It is creativity that keeps filmmaker Jason Da Silva going when he encounters more challenges than triumphs in his life. His first short film Olivia’s Puzzle was shot in Aldona. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003 and was aired on HBO. He went on to make A song for Daniel, Twins of Mankala and First Steps . He also made Lest we Forget a feature length documentary film.

At the peak of his career in 2005, he was diagnosed with progressive primary multiple sclerosis. All of 25 years, he didn’t pay much heed to the diagnosis.

It only hit him in 2006 when during a Caribbean vacation he fell on the beach and couldn’t pick himself up.

From there on his numerous medical appointments began. He found that his disability was quickly worsening, and with doctors’ appointments taking up most of his time, he was losing out on what he loved doing— making films.

He refused his mother’s advice to give up filmmaking. Instead, he decided to take his camera along to all his appointments and film various aspects of his living with the new disability. And so began his film spanning seven years of his life from the time of his fall. When I walk was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival in 2013 and won ‘ best Canadian feature documentary’ award at HotDocs, the grand jury award for ‘ best film’ at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and ‘ most popular Canadian documentary’ at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Turning the camera on himself wasn’t something he was comfortable with at first especially after being habituated to shooting the scenes, constructing the shots and editing his own films. He found a ray of hope in a girl he met at an MS support group. Alice and Jason wed in 2010. Marrying Alice he says was an exhilarating moment for him. Alice plays a vital role in the production, shooting and editing of the film.

Over the period of seven years the film shows Jason’s physical condition deteriorating, his unsuccessful search for a cure, his struggle coping with it and the various challenges he faces getting around accessing facilities in New York. In 2006 he began walking with a limp, in 2007 he walked with a cane, in 2008 he used a walker, then wheelchair and now a motorized scooter. The hardest part of the day, he says, is waking up after a whole night of dreams where he can walk and dance with friends.

The film, he told Herald Review was challenging yet rewarding. “ Every day was more difficult than the previous one as my physical self got worse. I wanted to put the camera down so many times but realized the importance of the project, so I kept going on.” Having to edit footage of himself on screen wasn’t a pleasant experience either.

His story is about the universal struggle of triumph over tragedy and he wants people to relate to that in any way they can.

A disability can be an isolating experience presenting challenges in accessing facilities. Up to this day Jason has trouble calling for a cab in which his scooter can fit into. Restaurants don’t have ramps and subways are the least accessibly with no elevators. A lot of the new constructions build accessibility into their design. But the old constructions don’t have this accessibility and this sets limits on facilities that the challenged can enjoy.

A spokesperson for the differently abled, Jason is developing ways to facilitate movement around the city for those with mobility challenges through an AXS map ( access map) funded by Google Charitable Giving and other foundations. The crowd- sourced tool helps share reviews on the wheelchair accessibility of businesses and places.

The map is available online as well as on android and iPhone applications.

Jason was born in Ohio. He moved to Vancouver when he was 14 and later moved to Brooklyn, New York where he currently lives. The last time he was in Goa, he worked on a short fictional film in Panjim. He is expanding this into a feature film called ‘ Trance’ and hopes to film in Goa in the next two years. Jason’s life took a wonderful turn last year when Alice gave birth to Jase. Review Bureau