Independents Night is a program devoted exclusively to showcasing American documentaries. This rich genre comes to the big screen every month at the Walter Reade Theater, making Independents Night one of the city's foremost year-round venues for nonfiction work. Join the filmmakers for a provocative evening of discovery and exploration and stay for the Q & A discussion after the film. Independents Night is supported, in part, by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.


Past Indie Night Events



Learning to Swallow
Danielle Beverly, 2005; 86m
Thursday, October 27, 2005, 6:30 pm
Patsy was an energetic artist, full of life and constantly changing hairstyles. She took hundreds of pictures of herself documenting her many looks and moods, from carefree party girl to haunting images of herself staring into the camera. Then one day, in what she later came to realize was a bipolar manic episode, Patsy attempts suicide by swallowing drain cleaner. Her esophagus and stomach are removed. Danielle Beverly’s first feature chronicles four years of Patsy’s life, from her life in a Florida nursing home through her surgery to replace her digestive system, her addiction to painkillers and her physical and mental rehabilitation. We see her first shaking uncontrollably, reflecting haltingly on the terrible harm she has done to herself and wishing for her old life in Chicago, while her family and friends question whether she will ever be able to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to her recovery, starting with receiving liquid nutrition through a J-tube in her abdomen. As she faces her lowest point, she starts regular therapy sessions, which allow her to learn about her illness and how it relates to her past. When she moves back to Chicago, she taps into the artist within her, this time with a new, mature voice.

Director/producer Danielle Beverly began her documentary career at Chicago’s PBS affiliate, co-producing a film about the Joffrey Ballet and disability, Dance from the Heart, as well as Independent View, and Blink — all of which have won Emmys. In addition to producing for cable and PBS, she is a cinematographer on independent documentaries and will continue, until 2011, to serve as field producer for James Whitaker’s Project Rebirth, a longitudinal documentary that will track the healing process of 10 people markedly impacted by 9/11.