An inspiring true story of love, courage, and determination in the face of harrowing fortunes, the directorial debut of British actor Andy Serkis stars Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield as Robin Cavendish, the activist and innovator who helped make the world a more navigable place for the disabled.
Robin and Diana (The Crown‘s Claire Foy) fall madly in love, marry, and honeymoon in Kenya, a journey that also provides Robin with an opportunity to tend to his tea brokerage. Jubilation and tragedy arrive in dizzying succession: the couple discovers Diana is pregnant just as Robin, aged 28, is stricken with rapid-onset polio, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on a respirator. Robin is hurled into despair, feeling that his life is effectively over — yet his real adventure has only just begun.
Bucking authority by choosing to stay at home and risk death rather than remain confined to a hospital, Robin and Diana undertake a mission to de-marginalize the disabled, campaigning for disability rights and developing transformative technologies, such as respirator wheelchairs and hydraulic lifts.
The short film Pollyanna will be included with this screening.
