CAST:
Darius Weems, Andrew Carson, Daniel Epting, John Hadden, John Harmon, Jason Hees, Sam Johnson, Collin Shepley, Logan Smalley, Kevin Wier, Dylan Wilson, Tracy Seckler
DARIUS GOES WEST: USA 2007, DVD, color, 98 minutes
Ciné hosts the annual celebration of the award-winning documentary film project DARIUS GOES WEST: THE ROLL OF HIS LIFE. Even if you've already seen the movie, come watch the hilarious DGW “extras,” footage from this year’s adventures on the road - - Darius and the crew will be there to tell the stories behind the story. Don't miss it!
Where would you go if you’d never been away from home? What would you do if you didn’t have
much time left? DARIUS WENT WEST!
Meet 15-year-old Darius Weems from Athens, Georgia, who was born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), the most common fatal genetic disorder to affect children worldwide. In 1999, he watched his beloved older brother, Mario, pass away from the same disease at age 19. Soon after, Darius lost use of the muscles in his legs and had to begin using a wheelchair.
A group of Darius’s college-age friends decided there was no need for his quality of life to disintegrate along with his muscles. In the summer of 2005, they rented a wheelchair-accessible RV and took Darius,who had never seen mountains, the ocean or even crossed a state line, on the adventure of a lifetime. The ultimate goal of their 7,000-mile cross-country journey was to reach Los Angeles and convince MTV’s hit show “Pimp My Ride” to customize Darius’s wheelchair. Along the way, they evaluated wheelchair accessibility in America, celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and raised awareness of DMD—particularly among a generation not familiar with Jerry Lewis. They also found joy, brotherhood and the knowledge that life, even when imperfect, is always worth the ride.
Winner of over 25 film festival awards to date, DGW was the most award winning festival film of 2007. DARIUS GOES WEST is a charitable subsidiary of Charley's Fund, a nonprofit foundation that funds medical research into a treatment or cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common and aggressive form of muscular dystrophy. dariusgoeswest.com
