![]() ![]() I’d like to ask you about the film’s tagline, An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the face of Invisibility. We started with the actual reality of performance, and then the story kind of evolved over time. Some filmmakers start with a story board and then get those shots, but we didn’t start like that. The vision for how would look-I wish it were more clear from the beginning. ![]() That’s part of the beauty of performance, that it’s specific in space and time and locale, but also given the intersections that we try to represent and the way we try to represent them, we know that more people need to have access to the insights and visions and politics that we’re engaging in. What we were clear on was that the were beautiful, and it was significant, and we could only share it with so many people in our local environment. I think we partly did it because we didn’t realize the scope of the project when we started! Patty: Film is a behemoth medium, and I have a mad amount of respect for filmmakers. How has the project evolved since you began-where did you start, and where have you ended up? Translating from Performance to Filmĭ.: You’ve been collecting footage for the documentary since 2007. Unless otherwise specified, D.’s dialog is in bolded text, and all other words are Patty’s. ![]() Allen and Patty Berne, director and co-founder of Sins Invalid, which took place on Thursday, October 3, 2013. The following are excerpted and rearranged segments of a Skype conversation between writer D. For a rearranged sampling of my favorite parts of the interview, read on. I, too, want to make sure that every gem is elucidated, so I’ve published an extended transcript of my conversation with Patty for those of you who want to read a linear, more detailed version of our interview. As I’ve sifted back through my seven typed pages of transcription from our interview, I came up against a mini-version of the problem she herself identified: “Since we still have a hundred hours of footage, part of me wants to be like, Let’s go back and do a feature length! I’m kind of a saver, a scrape-the-end-of-the-toothpaste kind of person, so I’m like there’s all this footage that I’m sure has all these gems, and I want to make sure that every gem is elucidated.” It was fitting, but unintentional, that my first question for Patty was about how her vision for the project has evolved since filming began in 2007. That should be common sense, but it’s not how many people relate to disability. No one has to qualify as “disabled enough” to perform as the director, Patty works with each artist based on their needs, abilities, and talents. One of the things that moves me deeply about Sins Invalid is the fact that Patty Berne and Leroy Moore, co-founders, both identify as visibly disabled–among other identites–and work to centralize and nurture artists (including themselves) who exist at the intersections between ability, race, queerness, sexuality, and gender. So I appreciate that Sins Invalid complicates, rather than simplifies, identity. Our conversation was all heart, covering everything from the challenges of translating live performance to film, Patty’s own experience with body- and disability-related shame as a child, and liberating beauty from the ties that prevent us from seeing it in ourselves and each other.Īs a queer writer and performer with a genetic condition that affects my body’s connective tissue, making my joints very flexible (read: a human pretzel) but also very painful and prone to injury, I have more than a passing interest in Sins’ work. My disability is largely invisible until I choose to share it with others, and this, combined with my young age, can make it difficult for people to understand that I have physical limitations, that I experience daily pain and fatigue, or that I’m not lazy or unmotivated when I need to take things slowly. Since geography prevents me from attending the documentary’s first screening in Oakland this Wednesday, I contacted Patty to hear more about the process of making the film. They are in the process of releasing a new documentary about their work, called Sins Invalid: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility, which will become available for purchase and screenings in the coming months. If you are remotely interested in (A) disability justice, (B) sexy and smart performance art, (C) spaces centered around people of color and queer, trans*, and gender non-conforming folks with disabilities, or (D) humanity–you need to know about Sins Invalid. Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Patty Berne, director and co-founder of Sins Invalid, a Bay Area-based organization and performance project that centralizes artists from historically marginalized communities. ![]()
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