By Anjelica Fellini
Image Description: In grayscale, a triple repeated headshot of Reid Davenport, a man with curly dark hair and stubble, looks off to the left
The Artist’s Stay At the Walker Hotel Featuring Filmmaker Reid Davenport
In conversation with Reid Davenport, director of the new documentary Life After, which explores the issue of assisted suicide through the lens of the disability community.
Anjelica Fellini: When exactly did you first hear about Elizabeth Bouvia's story?
Reid Davenport: Apparently, I first read about her fifteen years ago...reading a book called No Pity by Joe Shapiro, which really politicized me. But, I don't remember reading about it then. I remember reading about her in 2017, reading an anthology by Paul Longmore, who is a pretty prominent disability scholar that talked about Bouvia. I was instantly intrigued. I was always interested in many disabled peoples’ opposition to assisted suicide — even though they were "progressive" in every topic. I thought then that Bouvia's story could be a vehicle to tell this story, about this tension between the disabled community and mainstream progressives. I started Googling her, and I was shocked that there was little to nothing about her after the 80s. And according to Wikipedia, she was still alive.
Image Description: Reid Davenport, in a tan tweed blazer, smiles outside next to a brick wall with a dark metal plaque that said, “Walker Hotel Collection.
AF: I was shocked when you discovered she had died in 2014.
RD: Yeah. And that made me feel like…okay, this is definitely a film. I don't know if I can make it now, but I think if I am in a position to make a film about this, I really want to. It's been a big part of my career. Obviously, a big part of the past four years of my life.
AF: How did you feel when you got Teresa (Elizabeth Bouvia's sister) to agree to interview? RD: It took a while. I didn't see it as an accomplishment right away. We didn't know how good of a storyteller she would be. It turned out she was a great storyteller. We didn't know the details of Bouvia’s life. There were so many unknowns. But it was exciting, and a kind of milestone. There was a lot of pressure too, I felt that we needed Bouvia to make this film. So, it was a crucial interview, to see if we could extend her story past the limited amount of archival video.
AF: I loved the way you told these stories of Elizabeth, Jerika Bolen… can you talk about why there was such a stark difference in how they were handled?
RD: I would disagree, I think they were handled very similarly. I do not think Jerika should have had the right to kill herself —
AF: Of course, I agree.
RD: But people rallied behind her, just as they did with Elizabeth. The only difference was that in Elizabeth's case, the judge said no.
AF: Speaking again of Elizabeth's care, these experimental surgeries that they performed on her…do you think science and doctors have improved from times like that? Or are we still doing things like that? Performing experiments on human beings?
RD: I think we are. You know, it's hard to discern that kind of thing. Let's say that most doctors aren't ableist. But those doctors that are, have profound impact on people and do profound damage on people. I think it's still a medical given that you try to cure or fix, instead of putting your effort towards supports or buying equipment or meeting people where they’re at.
AF: And making it affordable.
RD: That's a whole other….right now, we are just talking about doctors — divorced from the economy of being disabled. That reality alone is damaging enough.
AF: Finding out from your film that even in Canada, which we Americans think of having universal health care, has limitations too in it's system for the disabled —
RD: Yeah.
AF: That was a total “oh, great nothing is good” — moment for me.
RD: Well, we also think of Europe having universal health care. But selective abortion is really popular there in some of the northern countries. Because of that, I would say, disability, obviously, is mitigated in those areas. So pretty much even if you argue that [Europe] has a better health care system, there is a different form of ableism there.
AF: Obviously, you're a filmmaker, and you are a disabled filmmaker. But this is not your story, this is not your personal story.
RD: Sure.
AF: How do you deal with the projected view of people being like, "this is your story because you're a marginalized filmmaker and this is about a marginalized community."?
RD: I make films about disability because it's what interests me. It's what gets me excited. It's what I know a lot about, experientially as well as academically, for lack of a better word. There are many crossovers between many disabled stories, and yet each one is also singular. I hold that true and don’t worry about generalized projections.
Image Description: Reid Davenport, in a tan tweed blazer, smiles outside next to a brick wall with a dark metal plaque that said, “Walker Hotel Collection.
AF: I was shocked when you discovered she had died in 2014.
RD: Yeah. And that made me feel like…okay, this is definitely a film. I don't know if I can make it now, but I think if I am in a position to make a film about this, I really want to. It's been a big part of my career. Obviously, a big part of the past four years of my life.
AF: How did you feel when you got Teresa (Elizabeth Bouvia's sister) to agree to interview? RD: It took a while. I didn't see it as an accomplishment right away. We didn't know how good of a storyteller she would be. It turned out she was a great storyteller. We didn't know the details of Bouvia’s life. There were so many unknowns. But it was exciting, and a kind of milestone. There was a lot of pressure too, I felt that we needed Bouvia to make this film. So, it was a crucial interview, to see if we could extend her story past the limited amount of archival video.
AF: I loved the way you told these stories of Elizabeth, Jerika Bolen… can you talk about why there was such a stark difference in how they were handled?
RD: I would disagree, I think they were handled very similarly. I do not think Jerika should have had the right to kill herself —
AF: Of course, I agree.
RD: But people rallied behind her, just as they did with Elizabeth. The only difference was that in Elizabeth's case, the judge said no.
AF: Speaking again of Elizabeth's care, these experimental surgeries that they performed on her…do you think science and doctors have improved from times like that? Or are we still doing things like that? Performing experiments on human beings?
RD: I think we are. You know, it's hard to discern that kind of thing. Let's say that most doctors aren't ableist. But those doctors that are, have profound impact on people and do profound damage on people. I think it's still a medical given that you try to cure or fix, instead of putting your effort towards supports or buying equipment or meeting people where they’re at.
AF: And making it affordable.
RD: That's a whole other….right now, we are just talking about doctors — divorced from the economy of being disabled. That reality alone is damaging enough.
AF: Finding out from your film that even in Canada, which we Americans think of having universal health care, has limitations too in it's system for the disabled —
RD: Yeah.
AF: That was a total “oh, great nothing is good” — moment for me.
RD: Well, we also think of Europe having universal health care. But selective abortion is really popular there in some of the northern countries. Because of that, I would say, disability, obviously, is mitigated in those areas. So pretty much even if you argue that [Europe] has a better health care system, there is a different form of ableism there.
AF: Obviously, you're a filmmaker, and you are a disabled filmmaker. But this is not your story, this is not your personal story.
RD: Sure.
AF: How do you deal with the projected view of people being like, "this is your story because you're a marginalized filmmaker and this is about a marginalized community."?
RD: I make films about disability because it's what interests me. It's what gets me excited. It's what I know a lot about, experientially as well as academically, for lack of a better word. There are many crossovers between many disabled stories, and yet each one is also singular. I hold that true and don’t worry about generalized projections.
AF: One of the things I took away from your film was a subconscious idea I didn't know had: Romanticizing the idea that somebody should be allowed to put themselves down if they don't experience life the same way that I experience it.
RD: Yeah.
AF: But your film reveals a more obvious and appropriate answer, which is for us all to create a more harmonious society where everybody can live equally. What are some small things that you think that people can do, as a hive, to make a difference?
RD: Hard question, because what we really need a seismic shift. What we need is a Medicare revolution, where the economic system is transformed. Maybe this argument has become so cliché now, but I think about how Jeff Bezos has enough money to make the world accessible two hundred times over. Also, and I probably say this too much, but I don't think it's about empathy. It's about consideration. Empathy is kind of this unicorn. Some people are just not empathic, but that doesn't mean they can't be considerate. They might not be able to go in other people's shoes, but they can still understand their needs. One of the things is just to try to make an effort, to make your community more physically accessible, more welcoming towards disabled people.
AF: I loved the last shot and the dedication for Elizabeth. It was such a powerful way to end your movie.
RD: I'm so grateful that I was able to tell Elizabeth's story. She didn't grant us permission, so I really wanted to honor her in a tangible way, and I also hope people can see that this film goes well beyond assisted suicide. The question of assisted suicide is really about how we marginalize disabled people. Thinking about this kind of ping pong, where they're not hired in the private sector, and there isn't enough money to get out of poverty with public funds, so they're really stuck in limbo. It's a pretty desperate social problem, how society is constructed to support, or not support, disabled people.
Reid was photographed and interviewed by Anjelica Fellini. Thank you to Multitude Films, The Walker Hotel, and Ross Michaels.
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