I Didn't See You There, winner of the US Documentary Directing Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, presents the world from the perspective of a wheelchair user. Though filmmaker Reid Davenport never appears on camera in full, his silhouette sometimes appears in reflective surfaces.
Davenport, who has cerebral palsy, begins with a confusing trip on a BART train before switching to a fraught trip down a San Francisco sidewalk where he encounters blocked pathways and impatient drivers. The director, who narrates, explains that he has worked with camera operators in the past (on a series of short films). In this case, however, he acquired and attached a DJI Osmo drone camera to his chair in order to shoot his first feature himself.
In the Bay Area, he's on his own, with no one to assist him. He moved away from home to work in the arts, but that means living independently. As he traverses his Oakland neighborhood, he often passes a circus-like tent that reminds him of the freak shows of the P.T. Barnum era where people with disabilities served as carnival attractions. If the shows disappeared, the divide between people with disabilities and those without remains. As he puts it, "I feel it when I'm stared at, and when I'm not seen."
During the course of filming, he takes two trips to his Bethel, Conn. hometown to visit his mother, sister, and niece and nephew. P.T. Barnum was also born in Bethel, and Davenport visits a statue built in his honor. But first, upon landing, he has to wait for a flight attendant to assist him, so that he can return to his wheelchair. She is helpful; other airport staffers are the exact opposite.
Back in the Bay Area, he meets his friend Daniel for lunch, and they visit a museum. Later, he takes a humiliating bus trip home during which the driver orders him to turn his chair around before strapping him in so that he faces the riders in the back, who stare at him blankly. The driver also asks him, repeatedly, to power down his electronic chair. Davenport says he's never been positioned this way before, and he's been using public transportation for years. In fact, it inspired his move to the Bay Area.
I Didn't See You There isn't necessarily an experimental documentary, but Davenport features more scenes of sidewalks and feet than faces since that's the way he sees the world. Other than his friend and his niece, he includes few close-ups and some scenes play with no music or voiceover, so the film may prove challenging to viewers accustomed to more conventional documentaries, but it definitely presents an underseen, under-considered perspective--one usually discussed more often than shown.
After a successful run at regional film festivals in 2022, I Didn’t See You There aired on PBS stations nationwide as part of the 35th season of POV in 2023, and it's sure to have a long life in academic and community settings.
Where does this title belong on library shelves?
I Didn't See You There belongs on documentary shelves in academic and public libraries with other POV and Independent Lens titles, in addition to shelves dedicated specifically to disability or critical disability studies.
What kind of film series could use this title?
Film series on disability and accessibility, especially features made by disabled filmmakers, like James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham's documentary Crip Camp (to which Reid Davenport contributed), could benefit from I Didn't See You There.
What type of instructors will use this title?
College-level disability studies instructors would do well to consider adding I Didn't See You There to the syllabus.