The 2006-07 Southern Circuit Film Series kicks off with “Learning to Swallow” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Sweet Briar College. Hailed as “Unflinchingly honest” by the Minneapolis City Pages, this documentary by filmmaker Danielle Beverly tells the story of Patsy Desmond, a mentally ill and charismatic artist who battles to reconstruct her life after her digestive system is destroyed by a suicide attempt.

It is the first of six independent films to be shown over the next several months at venues that will alternate between Sweet Briar and Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. Screenings will be held at Sweet Briar in Tyson Auditorium (Benedict 100) and at R-MWC in Leggett Hall Room 537. Admission is free.

An “it” girl in the Chicago social scene of the 1990s, Desmond hung out at the hippest joints and was on a first-name basis with the coolest bands. “I can tell you that every single person knows a person like her,” said Beverly, who has known the film’s subject for about 20 years. “There’s always someone that’s so much fun to be around … [who will] take you on that wild ride against your better judgment.”

The film's subject, Patsy Desmond, in a self portrait.
Desmond also suffers from bipolar disorder which led to her 1999 suicide attempt. Diagnosed six months earlier but not taking her medication, she tried repeatedly to kill herself — first by drowning, then cutting her wrists, and finally by drinking drain cleaner. Although she survived, her esophagus and stomach were destroyed and she would never eat or drink again, except through a tube in her stomach.

“We didn’t know what [bipolar] really meant, and neither did she, which is why she went off her medication,” Beverly said. “She didn’t realize that it could basically kill you.”

Director Danielle Beverly brings her documentary "Learning to Swallow" to Sweet Briar on Sept. 19.
A producer of several Emmy-winning PBS programs, Beverly was planning to film her first feature-length documentary at the time. She hoped it would be “fairly serious” in nature, and her goal was to focus on someone who had experienced a “life changing event [and] … follow them through that process.”

She was wondering who that someone would be when Desmond called her from a Florida hospital room. Although shocked at what had happened, Beverly soon realized she’d found her film’s subject. “I thought to myself, ‘You’ve been looking for someone undergoing a huge life event and I think it just fell in your lap,’ ” she said.

For the next four years, Beverly’s camera captured Desmond’s struggle to “get back to her old self,” a task complicated by failed surgery, family problems, addiction and mental illness. “Knowing her did allow me to have pretty intimate access pretty quickly, and that’s due to her courage,” she said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen with her life.”

While the subject matter and graphic images may disturb some viewers, Beverly is passionate about the film’s message, especially as it pertains to young audiences. “Her story serves as a cautionary tale,” she said. “Many students may know someone very similar to Patsy … but may not know how to recognize early symptoms of bipolar illness in their peers. Her story illustrates how bipolar can affect even the most fun, accomplished, outwardly well, creative person.”

After more than a dozen screenings, Beverly continues to be “pleasantly but perplexedly surprised” with how her film has resonated with audiences around the world. “At every screening, it’s uncanny, someone will testify,” she said. “Instead of asking a question, they’ll just raise their hand and say, ‘I had no idea how serious this was. I’m bipolar and I had no idea how serious it was.’ ”

In its 12th year at Sweet Briar, the Southern Circuit Film Series is sponsored by the Southern Arts Federation in Atlanta. Approximately 50 films were considered for the 2006-07 series. Those selected include four documentaries, a selection of animated works, and a mockumentary/MGM-style musical set in outer space.

Following each film in the series, the filmmaker will be on hand to discuss their project and answer questions. Also, dinner with the filmmaker is offered prior to each show. At Sweet Briar, dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. in Burnett Dining Room B. The cost is $6.75 for the public and $5.50 for SBC faculty and staff. Dinner at R-MWC starts at 5:30 p.m. in Cheatham Dining Hall. The cost of dinner is $7.

The film schedule is as follows:

Learning to Swallow
7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, Sweet Briar College
Filmmaker: Danielle Beverly
Synopsis: Patsy Desmond, an artistic whirlwind chronicling her life through self-portraits, stormed through the early 90’s Chicago art and music scene. Full of drama, outrageous style and charisma, no one guessed that behind it all she was hurtling toward her ruin. In an uncontrolled, manic-depressive episode, Desmond attempted suicide by drinking drain cleaner. Although she survived, the incident destroyed her digestive system. Danielle Beverly’s documentary follows Desmond over four years of recovery: through a failed reconstructive surgery, oxycontin and alcohol addictions, and the ultimate struggle to keep hope.

State of Fear
7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College
Filmmaker: Pamela Yates
Synopsis: A cautionary tale of what happens when fighting terrorism impairs democracy. “When I went there in 2002, I realized all of these astounding parallels between Peru and what the rest of the world was about to begin,” says Yates. “It is really about the war between terror and counter-terror.” This documentary makes every image count as it contrasts the unsettling testimony and confession of victims and perpetrators with the unparalleled beauty of the Peruvian landscape. Although the film tells the story of one particular country, the issues and events it depicts concern any democratic nation in today’s terror-conscious climate.

Manhattan, Kansas
7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, Sweet Briar College
Filmmaker: Tara Wray
Synopsis: At 19 years old, director Tara Wray fled her childhood home of Manhattan, Kan. after her mother, in a mentally unstable state, threatened to kill her. “My mother was my entire life,” she says. “But we were always running from her demons, both real and imagined.” Her mother’s undiagnosed emotional and mental state terrorized Wray for years. “One minute she was Mom — funny, tiny, strong, a pleasure to be around,” recalls Wray. “Then she was Not-Mom — scary, dark, shrunken, yet huge. I spent my whole life trying to anticipate which one was present, which one might show up next. It made me a pretty tightly-wound kid.” Following five years of estrangement, Wray knew it was time to go back — with her camera.

Animation Selections
7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College
Filmmaker: Karl Staven
Synopsis: Karl Staven’s name is synonymous with creative and innovative animation. He takes inspiration from all over the world for his animation — even the smallest objects in a dollhouse. Staven will screen selections from his large body of work, including the animated short films “Abandoned Dolls” and “Gabriel Goes for a Walk.” “Abandoned Dolls” is a six-minute puppet/object animation piece displaying two types of dolls vying for dominance in a post-apocalyptic city. “Despite open gestures and forgiving phone calls, it proves difficult to bridge the divide,” writes Staven.

Liberia: A Fragile Peace
7 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, 2007, Sweet Briar College
Filmmaker: Steve Ross
Synopsis: This documentary explores the civil war between the wealthy minority of former American slaves and the indigenous, rural tribes across the country. Filmmaker Steve Ross calls it a “happy accident” that he met the graduate student who wanted to make a documentary about the Liberia situation and needed help with the filmmaking. During his first trip to Liberia, after the exit of a tyrannical Charles Taylor and the entrance of the United Nations in 2003, Ross said their experience was like classic news-journalism. He and his student colleague had only one contact in the whole country, stayed in a convent because the only hotel in Monrovia was charging $350 a night, and “filled a bag with footage.” They went back again a few years later. “I wasn’t there during the carnage,” assures Ross. “I was never fearful for my life. The people saw my camera and wanted to talk. They needed to tell the world their story.”

Interkosmos
7 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, 2007, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College
Filmmaker: Jim Finn
Synopsis: Jim Finn’s mockumentary follows an East German secret space mission to colonize the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. This cosmonaut romance told through photographs, test and training footage, and a series of infectious specially recorded German pop songs weaves together the styles of a 70’s documentary, Hollywood musical and dry-humor comedy. “The story is a little ridiculous,” Finn admits. “I mean, the inmates are really running the asylum in this film. … I wanted a communist love story; I wanted guinea pigs and a space capsule; and I wanted the radical artistic energy of the 1920s and the 60s. This is what came of it.” Finn’s project grew into a hilarious, communist, musical extravaganza. “In the U.S., our image of communists was always so dour,” says Finn. “If they were having a good time, it was in that psychotic alcoholic way. I wanted to show something different — some of the love.” A film that may have been utterly taboo during the space-race era is now, according to “The Guardian,” “a serious rib-tickler that will undoubtedly become a cult classic.”

For more information about the Southern Circuit Film Series, contact Eleanor Salotto at esalotto@sbc.edu or (434) 381-6159, or Jennifer Gauthier at jgauthier@rmwc.edu or (434) 947-8501.

– Story by Suzanne Ramsey, SBC staff writer