Copyright Deadline
EXCLUSIVE: For years, a boy named Martin Pistorius lived in a kind of waking coma, “conscious but unable to move or speak… Surrounded by people but unable to reach them.” Eventually, when he was in his late teens, a caregiver noticed Pistorius could respond to her words with his eyes, opening the possibility to communicate with those around him. His extraordinary journey from utter isolation to human connection is revealed in the Oscar-contending documentary Ghost Boy, directed by Rodney Ascher (Room 237, A Glitch in the Matrix), winner of the Audience Award at SXSW in the Visions category. We have your first look at the film in the teaser-trailer above. Pistorius “bore witness to both cruelty and kindness, watching how others behaved when they thought no one was truly there,” notes a synopsis. “His ordeal is a true story of survival and resilience, drawn from Martin’s acclaimed memoir… [T]he film inventively combines re-creations, archival footage, and Martin’s eloquent, text-to-speech narration to immerse viewers in his world.” “Martin Pistorius went through an exceedingly difficult and harrowing ordeal and came out the other side shockingly positive and uncynical,” Ascher tells Deadline. “Personally, I think the reason his story resonates so strongly isn’t because of how unusual his experience was, but rather how relatable. We’ve all felt alone, we’ve all been confused about who we are, we’ve all looked for connection, love, and a sense of belonging. He just felt these things more intensely than most of us.” Ascher comments, “The challenge was how to tell this very internal story as a non-fiction film; I knew that Martin didn’t like to sit silently as other people talked about him, so I was determined to create a space for him to tell his story in his words, and (crucially) in his own voice. We would resist the urge to interview numerous doctors, psychologists, linguists, and educators and have them tell us their opinions about his experiences and his condition. Martin would be the primary person talking throughout the film via AAC (Assisted and Augmentative Communication) technology. “My mission was less about explaining a rare medical condition than it was to let the audience see the world through Martin’s eyes.” Pistorius’s memoir Ghost Boy was published in 2011. Over the course of the documentary, “Martin takes a dozen steps between total isolation and an ever-expanding connection with the world,” Ascher says. “I hope this film can be one more.” Watch the teaser-trailer for Ghost Boy above.
