Agency - English program:.Pacific and Yukon Centre.

Director, Bonnie Sherr Klein ; writer, Bonnie Sherr Klein ; producer, Tracey Friesen ; editor, Lara Mazur ; cinematographer, Kirk Tougas ; composer, Veda Hille ; location sound recording, Jeff Henschel ; sound supervisor, Gael MacLean ; research, Corinna Hagel ; sound editor, Mark Hensley ; re-recording mixer, Mark Hensley, Don Mann ; executive producer, Rina Fraticelli.

Collaborating artist, Persimmon Blackbridge, Catherine Frazee, Geoff McMurchy, David Roche ; participant, Mac Blades, Marlena Blavin, Michael Klein, Patricia Seeley, Corey Fischer, Charlene Curtiss, JoAnne Petroff, Alexina Louie, Brenda Zabolotny, Carolyn Novog, Shawn Robinson, Melanie Panitch, Penny Schincariol, Sara Hillis, Erica Johnson, Naomi Klein, Zoe Klein-Johnson, Avi Lewis, Seth Klein.

Recorded 2006.

Art, activism and disability are the starting point for what unfolds as a funny and intimate portrait of five surprising individuals. Director Bonnie Sherr Klein (Not a Love Story, and Speaking Our Peace) has been a pioneer of women's cinema and an inspiration to a generation of filmmakers around the world. SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability marks Klein's return to a career interrupted by a catastrophic stroke in 1987. Always the activist, she now turns the lens on the world of disability culture, and ultimately, the transformative power of art. Joining Klein are a group of artists with diverse (dis)abilities. Humourist David Roche is taking his one man show, The Church of 80% Sincerity, to New York's off-Broadway. Poet and scholar Catherine Frazee is navigating a jam-packed schedule of teaching and speaking engagements. Dancer, choreographer and impresario Geoff McMurchy is organizing KickstART, an international festival of disability art. Sculptor and writer Persimmon Blackbridge is creating mixed media portraits from “meaningful junk”. Klein gathers these artists for a pyjama party where they take a subversive look at Hollywood stereotypes of people with disabilities: The Monster, The Saint, The Psycho, the Poor Little Crippled Girl, etc. The artists decide to turn the tables, making a pact to meet a year later at the KicksART Festival with the intent of creating their own images of disability. The film tracks this motley gang of five from the BC Gulf Islands, to Nova Scotia and south to San Francisco while they create and then present their multi-faceted self-representations. As we get to know each of these remarkable people driven by a passion for art and transformation, the everyday complexities and unexpected richness of life with a disability are exposed. Packed with humour and raw energy, SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability is a revelation of a film: honest, vulnerable and filled.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Bronze Plaque - Category: Arts, 2006

Description based on online resource; title from title screen (National Film Board of Canada, viewed 2023-08-10).