Stepping out: the birth of a theatre of the mentally handicapped

Australia, 1980

Film
A still image from Stepping out: the birth of a theatre of the mentally handicapped

Sensitively explores the lives of a unique theatre group of intellectually handicapped people preparing for their first public performance at the Sydney Opera House. Two members of the group, Chris 31 and Romayne 21, who have lived in the institution since early childhood express their attitudes to each other, their lives and hopes for the future. This film was chosen as the film for the International Year of the Disabled by the United Nations. Music: Keith Jarrett Camera: Dean Semler.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

production company

Binnaburra Film Company

producer/director

Chris Noonan

Duration

00:50:00:00

Production places
Australia
Production dates
1980

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

323319

Language

English

Subject categories

Crafts & Visual Arts → Handicapped and the arts

Documentary

Documentary → Documentary films - Australia

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Handicapped - Care and treatment

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Handicapped and the arts

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Handicapped children - Development

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → International Year of Disabled Persons 1981

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Mentally handicapped

Music & Performing Arts → Performing arts

Short films

Short films → Short films - Australia

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Preservation Print (Section 5)

16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)

Betamax; Access Print (Section 1)

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/75600--stepping-out-the-birth-of-a-theatre-of-the-mentally-handicapped/ |title=Stepping out: the birth of a theatre of the mentally handicapped |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=10 June 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}