''Right Footed'' is a documentary about

Jessica Cox Jessica Cox (born February 2, 1983) is the world's first licensed armless pilot, as well as the first armless black-belt in the American Taekwondo Association.

directed by Nick T. Spark and produced by Nick T. Spark and Mona Lisa Yuchengco. Cox was born without arms but has learned to live a fulfilling life including getting married, earning two black belts and becoming the first person without arms to fly an airplane. The film follows Cox as she begins new roles as a mentor and disability rights advocate. She visits both

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

on behalf of

Handicap International Humanity & Inclusion (formerly Handicap InternationalOn January 24th 2018, the global Handicap International network changed its name and became Humanity & Inclusion. This was done "to communicate more effectively on the diversity of its activiti ...

to help people with disabilities, and advocates for the adoption of the

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument, international human rights multilateral treaty, treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with Disabil ...

in the

US Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

. The film also follows her personal life as Cox is shown supporting her mother Inez as she battles

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, beginning her married life with her husband Patrick Chamberlain, and mentoring children with disabilities in the United States and abroad.

Funding and support

''Right Footed'' was fiscally sponsored by the

International Documentary Association International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Film ...

and also affiliated with the Creative Visions Foundation,

USA and Filipino broadcaster

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

. Financial support for the film came primarily from individual donations. Two

Indiegogo Indiegogo is an American crowdfunding website founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The site is one of the first sites to offer crowd funding. Indiegogo allows peo ...

campaigns collected over $60,000.

Film festivals

''Right Footed'' premiered at the 2015 Mirabile Dictu Film Festival, known as the "Catholic Academy Awards", at the Vatican City, Rome, where it won the "Best Documentary" honor. The 2015

EAA AirVenture EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisco ...

airshow was the venue for the US premiere. The film has also been part of the official selection at over 50 other film festivals in the United States and Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America including: * Portland Film Festival * DOCUTAH *

Cleveland International Film Festival The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. CIFF is the largest film festival in Ohio and among the longest-running in the United States. The festival is held at Playhouse Square, the lar ...

* Manchester International Film Festival * Cincinnati Film FestivalRight Footed Facebook Events
Retrieved 21 August 2015. * Offshoot Film Festival * Newburyport Documentary Film Festival * Catalina Film Festival * New Jersey Film Festival * Cinema Touching Disability Film Festival * Kansas International Film Festival * Napa Valley Film Festival * Awareness Film Festival * Hollywood Film Festival * Heartland Film Festival * The Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity * The Taiwan Disability Film Festival

Awards and honors

''Right Footed'' won 17 awards in film festival competition including "Best Social Action Film 2015" at the Hollywood Film Festival. It also won the "Best Documentary" honor at the Mirabile Dictu film festival, the International Film Festival Manhattan, the Beloit International Film Festival, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, and the Offshoot Film Festival. It received the "Audience Award" at the Awareness Film Festival, the Atlanta DocuFest, the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival, the Kansas International Film Festival, and the Beloit "Year Round" Film Festival. It also received the Spotlight Documentary Film Platinum Award. The film also received a Certificate of Merit at the Catalina Film Festival. It was nominated for competition at the Napa Valley Film Festival.Frazier, Kelsey. (11 August 2015)
2015 NVFF ANNOUNCES NARRATIVE AND DOCUMENTARY FILMS IN COMPETITIONNapa Valley Film Festival
Retrieved 21 August 2015 The film was also selected for the

American Film Program The American Film Program is a Cultural Exchange Program provided by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Purpose The American Film Program singles out those videos that it views reflect core American prin ...

's Documentary Film Showcase operated by the U.S. Department of State and the University of Southern California.

iTunes and DVD release

On October 5, 2016, it was announced that "Right Footed" would be released on DVD for private home use and through

Brainstorm Media Brainstorm Media is a full service American film distributor and production company based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 1995. In 2014 Brainstorm Media partnered with the North American home video company Shout Factory ...

on iTunes in the United States on November 1, 2016, and that an educational version would be made available through

Kanopy Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public and academic libraries that offers films, TV shows, educational videos and documentaries. The service is free for end users, but libraries pay fees on a pay-per-view model, from which ...

. The DVD features an additional 25 minutes of video material including deleted scenes, a commentary track with

Jessica Cox Jessica Cox (born February 2, 1983) is the world's first licensed armless pilot, as well as the first armless black-belt in the American Taekwondo Association.

, and is closed captioned in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Release on National Geographic

On February 2, 2017, it was announced that a 55-minute version of "Right Footed" would be released on the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

networks on six continents, in 83 individual countries around the world.

Release on Fuse TV

On March 8, 2017, it was announced that the 82-minute, film festival version of "Right Footed" would be released on the

Fuse (TV channel) Fuse is an American television channel owned by Fuse Media, LLC, that was originally launched in 1994 as MuchMusic USA, a localized version of the Canadian cable channel MuchMusic, owned by CHUM Limited which was also the parent company of Cit ...

in the United States as part of the network's "They Have a Dream" series of documentary films. Fuse later announced that the premiere screening would take place on May 20, 2017.

American Film Showcase

"Right Footed" screened in Europe, Africa and Asia as part of the American Film Showcase (also known as the

), a cultural exchange program operated by the U.S. Department of State's

Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State fosters mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries around the world. It is responsible for the Un ...

and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Critical reaction and reviews

The film earned an "all ages" review by the

Dove Foundation The Dove Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that issues film reviews, ratings and endorsements of movies that it considers suitable for family audiences, and that bases said reviews on their Christian v ...

and was awarded five Doves, the highest possible rating. It also earned high marks from

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

receiving a rating of "highly recommended" and the Common Sense Seal indicating that it is "great for families".

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is ...

gave the film a starred review and noted that "teens will be awed by Cox’s courage and accomplishments." The Independent Critic gave the film an A− and noted that "''Right Footed'' is the kind of film that will appeal to your heart and your mind and your faith in humanity. It's the kind of film you'll watch, you'll watch again and then you'll simply have to share it.".The Independent Critic
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References

External links

''Right Footed'' official website

Jessica Cox's website
* {{IMDb title, 4178020 Documentary films about people with disabilities Documentary films about children with disabilities Documentary films about sportspeople with disabilities American sports documentary films Crowdfunded films 2015 films Middle school films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films