“The Amateurs” On (theatre of) persons with intellectual disabilities in a feature film

Abstract

In the paper I want do show and discuss some aspects of a feature film “The Amateurs” and attempt to find out what questions the presented movie can provoke, what experiences it tells about, and whether it can provide a stimulus for social change and emancipation of people with intellectual disabilities. The movie is based on the artistic work of Polish theatre company BRO Biuro Rzeczy Osobistych Personal Affairs Bureau, whose activity has been running for twenty five years. In order to see and reflect on some aspects of the movie I employed secondary data analyses / a content analysis of found data / secondary data / sources: some excerpts from movie critics' reviews and an interviews with the director of “The Amateurs”. Theoretical approach in attempting an analysis of the movie is inspired by sensuous theory of film by Vivian Sobchack. The meeting between the viewer’s and actors with disabilities in the film in an embodied cinematic experience understood as a dialogic encounter. “The Amateurs” not only enable to show /see/ an important and often missing social issues, but also reveals a change in the meanings ascribed to persons with intellectual disabilities as actors and (co)creators of (film) art and culture.