UNTYPICAL, 95min., Belgium
Directed by Michael Jimmy DUPRET, Marion VAGNER
The documentary is cameos of five neurodivergent adults who are witnessing the radical changes happening by being more and more in touch with their neurodiversity. Atypical adults in Europe are often undiagnosed and having to mask their whole lives. They face discrimination in their professional lives and often struggle with low self-esteem and feel worthless. Through their journeys they will see their neurodiversity not as a deficit or dysfunction but as a distinctive cognitive style, with its own strengths and benefits. An estimated 20 percent of the world’s population are thought to be neuroatypical.
Get to know the filmmakers:
MV Marion Vagner) and Michael’s (MD Michael Dupret) :
1. What motivated you to make this film?
MV : As a journalist, I love telling people’s stories but I find documentaries in which people tell their own stories extremely powerful.
“Untypical” is about people having a different cognitive style and thinking outside the mold. I really wanted to meet neuroatypical adults, because we often talk about atypical children and the difficulty of raising atypical children but there is less talking about what these children become.
When the topic is neurodiversity, there is no one else than neuroatypical people themselves able to explain what their lives are made of.
Having a few neuroatypical persons in my life, I also knew many diverse conditions are misunderstood at best, and mostly stigmatized. It is hard to relate to it and hard to explain. Hard to get the big picture.
MD : This project interested me as soon as Marion proposed it. The first thing I love about a documentary is the discovery: showing viewers another side of a societal issue and also being able to learn new things myself. I was also attracted by the opportunity to offer our interviewees the chance to present themselves as they truly are. Working in fiction as well, I love the truth in documentaries: it’s “real life.” What I enjoy most when working on a documentary is being able to show the daily lives of the people we follow. I want to be able to transport the viewer alongside the witnesses we follow to better understand what they are going through.
2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
MV : It took me 2 years to find 5 adults representing the 5 different ways of thinking or functioning which are ADHD Autism, dyspraxia, Tourette’s syndrome and giftedness. Then we started filming in August 2022 and finished in May 2023. Editing took us a month or so. We were a very very small team which made the whole process very special.
3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
MV : If I have to pick up two words to describe the film I would say “all different”. I am hoping that at the end of the film, it is understood that brains can process information differently without it being an issue. We are all different in the way we think, solve problems, love, understand. That makes us as humankind a community.
4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
MV : The 5 persons I filmed had issues with their professional or educational environment. None of their employers or schools agreed on being part of the documentary and on telling one of their employees were neuroatypical. One of them has even been fired. There is such a lack of awareness about neurodiversity among employers and even healthcare professionals. It is part of the problem.
MD : With this subject, there was a challenge: showing the invisible, showing without staging, showing to create change. I love when the camera disappears, when the technique fades away to highlight the people we are following. The idea was to make visible to the viewers what our interviewees experience from the inside.
5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
MV : I was really really moved. First because they watched the film which I find amazing ! And also because the message we wanted to pass on was understood. The stories are relatable.
MD : I was really happy that all these people watched our film. It’s also interesting to see that so many people are concerned by this topic.
6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
MV : At 13 I was fascinated both by journalism and cinema. I was not allowed to watch TV or the news, so I still find it amazing that there was way to mix both my teenage passions.
MD : I was 7 when I watched the movie Poltergeist. I was not supposed to watch this movie at that age, but I was totally fascinated by it, by the emotions we can feel and share while sitting on a couch.
7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
MV : It would be the first movie I have ever seen, “Le grand bleu”. It moved me so much at the time it remains my cult classic.
MD : “Jaws”. I love the way the “monster” is shown by Spielberg. The music, the shark’s point of view. I’ve always been fascinated by how we can be so afraid of something we almost don’t see in the movie.
8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
MV : I think feedback are what we thrive as filmmakers. Being selected or not, having an award or not, we progress with feedback.
MD : As Marion said, feedbacks are definitely great. It would be nice to get pictures from the movie projection.
9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
Great, it is the second documentary we present, and it is so easy and a great way once the film is over to give it a life.
10. What is your favorite meal?
MV : I would say a French dish called quenelle. Is is a mixture of creamed fish and breadcrumbs and I am crazy about it.
MD : Definitely Quenelle!!! It’s a specialty from Lyon in France.
11. What is next for you? A new film?
MV : I am working on a documentary about Sanda Dia, a Belgian student who died in 2018 as a result of a fraternity hazing ritual. I work with his family to raise awareness on hazing, class-based justice and systemic racism.
MD : I just finished a documentary about the 1989 Tour de France, the biggest cycling event in the world. 1989 was a remarkable year when the American Greg Lemond made an incredible comeback. He won the race over the French favorite, Laurent Fignon, by 8 seconds on the last stage. It’s a kind of sports thriller. Now, I’m working on my second feature film, a horror movie.
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