King Gimp

King Gimp is a 1999 documentary that was awarded the 2000 Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary and 2000 Peabody Award. King Gimp follows 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.

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. After viewing a 7minute promo cut by Whiteford and Hadary at their Baltimore offices, HBO purchased the rights to the documentary for distribution on its premium channel, giving the filmmakers enough money for insert shots and to finish cutting the film.The film was edited from 80 hours of raw footage and an 80page memoir written by Keplinger. Initial rough cuts were done on videotape at the filmmakers offices in Baltimore, MD by Whiteford and contributing editor Loye Miller. After viewing them, HBO decided to bring postproduction to New York city, where Geof Bartz finished editing. HBO then transferred the 39minute documentary to 16mm film and entered it into the FramebyFrame film festival in New York City, where it fulfilled its Academy requirements to be eligible for an Oscar nomination. The film was nominated and won. Keplinger caused a sensation at the Oscar ceremony when he jumped out of his wheelchair with excitement over the HadaryWhiteford 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. Its broadcast premiere was on June 5, 2000. ........

Source: Wikipedia