King Gimp

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King Gimp
Directed by	Susan Hannah Hadary William A. Whiteford
Produced by	Susan Hannah Hadary
Written by	Dan Keplinger
Starring	Paul Hungerford Dan Keplinger
Editing by	Geof Bartz
Release date(s)	1999
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

King Gimp is a 1999 documentary that was awarded the 2000 Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary ^[1] and 2000 Peabody Award. "King Gimp" followed the life of artist Dan Keplinger of Towson, Maryland, who has cerebral palsy. Filmmakers Susan Hannah Hadary and William A. Whiteford, of the University of Maryland Video Press and Tapestry International Productions produced the film.

1 The journey begins
2 HBO enters
3 Keplinger's art
4 References
5 External links

[edit] The journey begins

Keplinger was 13 when the filmmakers met him as part of their federally funded documentary projects on mainstreaming children with disabilities. The cerebral palsy means Keplinger has little control over the muscles of his arms, legs or mouth. He uses a paintbrush attached to his head to paint. He could neither speak nor dress himself when the filmmakers met him. "They recorded Keplinger's move from a state school for disabled children into Parkville High School. They filmed him moving from his mother's home into his first apartment. His first art show, his friendship with a young woman hired to help him with homework, his senior prom and his tears at his college graduation -- all were captured on film," according to The Baltimore Sun. "King Gimp was the name neighbors gave him as a child because his house was on the top of a hill and he liked to roll down it in his wheelchair. A fighting spirit, he calls himself."

[edit] HBO enters

As a mass communication major at Towson University, Keplinger helped write the script that would be used in the documentary, but the filmmakers ran out of money to complete the project. The original film was 39 minutes, edited from 80 hours of footage and 80 pages written by Keplinger. After the 39-minute version of the documentary beat out all the other documentaries at a disability film festival, HBO took notice. It purchased the documentary for distribution on its premium channel, giving the filmmakers enough money to finish editing the film. It premiered June 5, 2000. The HBO Web site for the film is available at: http://www.hbo.com/kinggimp/king/. Keplinger caused a sensation at the Oscars when he jumped out of his wheelchair with excitement over the Hadary-Whiteford win. "It was cool to people who knew me," the artist said in The Washington Post. "Other people thought I was having a seizure. But I was just doing my victory dance."

[edit] Keplinger's art

He continued his painting career with a show at the Phyllis Kind Gallery in New York, NY in 2000. He returned to Towson University, where he had obtained a mass communication degree in 1998, to complete an art degree. Keplinger's art features large canvases with bold colors and many are self portraits.