Read all about Up Syndrome.
Up Syndrome
By Scott Foundas
Daily Variety
Early in Duane Graves' "Up Syndrome," we are treated to several excerpts from bad, shot-on-video monster movies made by Graves and his subject, the Down's Syndrome-afflicted Rene Moreno, when they were both about 12 years old. And in many ways, Graves' exceedingly playful and refreshingly unsentimental portrait of his best friend is a logical extension of those cheesy romps, offering as much insight into Moreno's personality as opportunities for the irrepressibly joyful Moreno to mug for Graves' camera.
Docu, which details Moreno's efforts to mainstream himself into society after graduating from a special high school in 1999, makes the point that just because Moreno doesn't see himself as disabled doesn't mean that others, including potential employers, will be so open-minded.
Friendship inspires film 'Up'
By Elaine Aradillas
San Antonio Express-News
San Antonians Rene Moreno and Duane Graves, friends for almost 20 years, have celebrated birthdays and graduations, talked endlessly about girls and jobs, and through it all shared a passion for staying up late and watching movies.
So it was no surprise when Graves graduated from college and returned home to make a documentary about his buddy, who has Down syndrome.
Graves' "Up Syndrome" is set for screening at 3 p.m. Sunday during the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center's 24th annual CineFestival. The screening is free.
The documentary follows Moreno without focusing on his disability. His speech is limited and can be difficult to understand, but what comes through are his humor and sweetness.
During one scene, for instance, Moreno sits on his porch and strums a guitar. He's shirtless, wearing a cowboy hat and making music for the world to hear.
"You could see my teeth. Big teeth," a grinning Moreno says while viewing the scene last week. With a hearty laugh, the 24-year-old slaps the table, remembering the good time he and Graves had while shooting the film.
Graves, a Texas A&M Corpus Christi graduate who is now 25, says he had no outline for the documentary, much less a script. He just wanted to document the life of his friend. So, with a high-tech camera, he followed Moreno from the fall of 1998 to the end of 1999, eventually shooting 50 hours of film.
Money was tight, until Graves' father discovered a complete 16mm collection of all 179 episodes of "I Love Lucy" in a trash bin outside a television station. Graves immediately turned to the auction Web site eBay and sold the set for $4,000.
"The only budget was the food," he says.
The ripple effects of the film have been surprising and unexpected, and Graves has enjoyed the attention "Up Syndrome" has received. On the festival circuit, "Up Syndrome" was awarded best documentary at the sixth annual Temecula Valley International Film Festival, took home the best documentary prize at the Fort Worth Film Festival 2000 and was nominated for the grand jury prize at Slamdance 2001, an alternative festival to the more-popular Sundance Film Festival.
"The only exhibition outlet is the festivals. They take you under their umbrella. It's nice being part of a little family," Graves says.
After the premiere at last year's Austin Film Festival, audience members came up to Moreno asking for his autograph.
"I like to give autographs. Give me a book, I write my name," he says.
Moreno can't read, but he likes seeing his name in print. He points out his name in numerous film-industry magazines and proudly displays the film poster, featuring a close-up of the star, on a wall in his room.
Moreno's parents, Carmen and Jesse Moreno, are fans of the film and lovingly tease their son about being a movie star.
"I think it's so neat that Duane took all this time and went out to do the film," says Carmen Moreno.
Since the film has gained momentum on the film circuit, Graves hopes he can sell it to television, where everyone can learn about his childhood chum and learn to like him as much as he does.
Moreno's father says the film is important because the public can learn more about people like his son.
"People don't look at Rene because they don't know who he is or what he is," he says. "Maybe this will give them the opportunity to come up and say, 'Hi.' He's not going to bite you."
Up Syndrome
By Chris Parry
mymovies.com
When Texas native Duane Graves was growing up, he had two friends. Home movies and his Down Syndrome afflicted buddy Rene. When Duane turned 23, he collected footage of Rene from over the years, combined his passions and created Up Syndrome, a portrait of a man who values life much more than most people who aren't classed as 'handicapped'.
I use the word 'portrait' rather than story, because this really is simply a look at Rene as he is, not a narrative or investigative piece such as you might expect from a Slamdance documentary. Scenes aren't scenes, they're clips. Essentially, we're presented with 'Rene's Funniest Home Videos,' and most will still enjoy what they see.
Rene is a mountain of energy, humour and random thoughts. He runs a million miles a minute, with the happiness and contentedness of a man much in love with life. Graves avoids portraying Rene in a passive light, steering clear of political correctness and allowing the audience to laugh with AND at Rene. The director clearly feels that Rene has as much right to make an ass of himself as anyone, and if something is funny, it should be shown in the same spirit it would be if it came from a 'normal' person.
Up Syndrome is, if you let your guard down, very funny and very frank. Rene clearly enjoys the camera and, even if it generally consists of quick clips of Rene goofing around, it's hard not to appreciate the guy's natural charm. Graves has clearly spent many years kidding around with his subject and feels no need to stick a halo on him or portray him as 'stricken', which allows the casual viewer a far further reaching look at the life behind the curtain of Down Syndrome than might have been presented had a complete stranger set about the task.
Up Syndrome won't change the world, but it has no intention of doing so. If there's such a thing as popcorn documentaries, this is one. So sit back and have fun.
A 'Lucy' tip gives UT student a leg 'Up' as a director
By John DeFore
Austin American-Statesman
One of the few Texas-made films in Park City, Utah, this year was Duane Graves' "Up Syndrome," which played last week in Slamdance, the largest rival of the Sundance Film Festival.
Graves, a student at the University of Texas, funded his film in a way that's unusual even in this city of Pharmaco-financed cinema. "My dad gave me a call one day and said that he had found about 180 film canisters in this dumpster behind a TV station in San Antonio," Graves said. "He said they were all labeled 'I Love Lucy.' So he dug them out of the trash, stuck them in his truck, and when he got them home it was the whole collection of the TV show."
"I sorted them out and posted an auction on E-bay, and within 24 hours I had about three or four film collectors calling me and having this major bidding war over them. One of the guys called me about midnight from Philadelphia and said, 'Don't sell them to that other guy! He's got a reputation as a crook! You gotta sell them to me. I'll send you a check right now. You don't even have to send the films till you get the check.'"
So he called the auction off?
"Yeah. This guy seemed nice, so we sold them to him. Right away he sent me a check for $4,000."
With that money, Graves bought a digital video camera, computer editing equipment and enough videotapes to start his project: a portrait of his childhood friend Rene Moreno, who has Down syndrome. The two made countless homemade action movies as kids. Graves, fresh out of a film program at Texas A&M's Corpus Christi campus, decided to continue that tradition with "Up Syndrome," his first feature.
The resulting project has played the Austin Film Festival and won best documentary awards in Fort Worth and Temecula Valley, Calif., film fests. Slamdance, though, was the biggest adventure for the young filmmaker -- and required the most energy: "I was so ready to come home!...Now I've just got to follow up on all these cards people have given me."
Up Syndrome
By Rod Hewitt
TNT's roughcut.com
Documentary filmmakers are always trying to make uplifting films. And making any story uplifting is much harder than making a tragedy. Duane Graves has taken the subject of Down Syndrome and turned it into Up Syndrome. Without using any real storyteller's skill and without a brilliant film conceit, Graves has succeeded in turning his film upward and projecting the story through the viewers' hearts. He does one simple thing -- he leaves Rene Moreno, his hero who has Down Syndrome, on camera the entire 82 minutes, and this disturbing and simplistic approach humanizes whoever watches the film. Moreno -- a 23 year old with a severely limited skill level and IQ -- is unable to remember dates, days, and simple concepts, and unable to distinguish between objects; he spends much of the time in slightly ridiculous situations.
For 82 minutes, we share in Rene's world -- in his hopes, in his imagination, in his dreams. We run around while he reenacts his own version of Cops; we see him supporting the San Antonio Spurs; we wallow in a small world of television and video games with him; and we come to appreciate his soul and his heart and his humanity. When we leave the film, we can make a promise that we will never leave Rene Moreno, that he will always stay with us. One of the unusual effects of being around people with Down Syndrome is that, while you may begin by pitying them, after being in their company for days or weeks or months, you discover that this unique person has become nearly invaluable in your life -- that their joy, their honesty, and their hearts have touched you.
That Rene Moreno is Mexican American means nothing. That he has the mental capacity of a three or four year old is negligible. That the scope of his life is limited to a small neighborhood in Austin, Texas, is almost meaningless. The imagination and hope and love that soars in this young man means everything, and to be carried by him for an entire movie is an honor that this director was wise enough and human enough to understand.
Up Syndrome, 3 1/2 stars
By Merle Bertrand
Film Threat magazine
Be it pre-destined or accidental, fate plays a huge role in our lives. Fate first dealt Rene Moreno a hand that included Down Syndrome, a congenital condition caused by extra genetic material on the 21st chromosome, and the most common form of mental retardation. Then fate intervened again by making Rene and director Duane Graves neighbors.
The two spent their childhood summers in San Antonio, conspiring together on ultra-bad home movies shot by Graves and starring Moreno, often as a deranged monster of some sort.
In "Up Syndrome," Graves' feature debut, the University of Texas at Austin film student turns his camera on Moreno again. Only this time, he doesn't depict his star as a horrific monster or a deranged lunatic, but simply as himself; a complex and engaging young man struggling to cope with a serious disease -- and the world's attitudes towards its sufferers -- as he matures into adulthood.
Graves follows a simple philosophy with regard to shooting this video feature: If something was important to Rene, then Graves was there with a camera. Thus, we're witnesses to such major events in Rene's life as his high school graduation, his competing in the Special Olympics, and the birth of his nephew, Ian.
However, these signature moments take up less screen time -- and make less of an impact -- than the footage of Rene simply addressing the camera. Here, he addresses such seemingly mundane stuff as his job, his troubled relationship with his girlfriend, Stephanie, and his growing desire to move out of his parents' home. Of course, issues like these are exactly what consumes the attention of everyone else in the world. Thus, watching Rene deal with these very same issues humanizes him in a way no over-produced network piece ever could.
Not all of "Up Syndrome" is so serious, however. One particularly inspired sequence shows Rene mimicking various movie action scenes, set to an awesome collection of sound effects. Another hilarious sequence shows Rene, um, "singing," for lack of a better description, while various distressed dogs, cats, squirrels, and other animals run for cover.
The best thing about "Up Syndrome" is the absence of any pedantic narrator or talking heads discussing Rene or his affliction. The result is a variation on that old script writing rule, whereby Rene "shows" us his story, rather than having others "tell" it to us for him.
Fate, it would seem, has intervened once again, as Duane Graves has brought us a memorable experience in "Up Syndrome"; one that serves his childhood friend -- and others like him -- well.
Up Syndrome (2000)
By filethirteen.com
Like a video journal, "Up Syndrome" takes us into the life of Rene Moreno, a 23 year old man who has Down Syndrome. Filmmaker and UT student Duane Graves has been one of Moreno's best friends since childhood and describes his youthful desire, as the boy's neighbor, to "cheer him up" since he is "down." This youthful motivation leads to a friendship that has spanned many years. Duane and Rene made films together from almost the beginning of this friendship and as Rene grew older, and began to say more serious things when the camera was on, Graves began to capture more and more footage of his friend.
What we end up with here is a video collage of life with Rene, his family and friends, his work, his former school, and his homelife. But paramount to all of this is his friendship with the filmmaker which has the duo taking off on many flights of fancy including visiting the Alamo, eating at Luby's, learning to drive and emulating TV programs and films. Through a weaving of moments and images, and through listening to Rene speak, we come to love and respect him as much as Graves obviously does. It's a truly remarkable love letter to a friend we have here.
But subtexturally, the film is more than just this. Rene is, in many ways, a man-child. And through these intimate glimpses into his life, we begin to see a thread of a disturbing preoccupation with guns, cops, violence and fireworks. Rene handles what appears to be a real gun and explains that he doesn't know how to use it and that it is bad and kills people. He speaks like a child who has been taught that a gun is a "bad thing," yet he handles this gun, points it and plays with it. It is quite distressing. He emulates the TV show "Cops" as Graves plays the cameraman, with a flashlight their only light in the darkness of Rene's backyard. As a child is fascinated with cartoons or fantasy films, Rene seems fascinated to the point of obsession with "Cops" and violent movies. It reminds us of the troubling and perplexing problems we face as Americans involving children and violence and guns and such. It can make one a bit uneasy to experience this part of the movie.
But, of course, it must also be said that Rene is just as obviously enamoured with Peewee Herman as he is with "Cops" and one of the most amusing moments of the film has Rene and Graves (from behind the camera) kidding each other about the one being Peewee Herman and the other being "Corky" (presumably the character with Down Syndrome from TV's "Life Goes On").
"Up Syndrome" does something else as well: It proves, yet again, that the medium is not important, the story is. The film is shot on Hi-8 video and in appearance looks very similar to someone's home movies. This is what delivers the piece it's intimacy and it's immediacy. We feel like we're glimpsing in on Rene's life through his friends eyes. And even though Graves supplements the film with some title cards and subtitles, which make it much easier to understand what Rene is saying, the film never stops feeling like a home video. This of course does not matter because we are interested in the main character, we enjoy his warmth, his sense of humor and his childlike innocence and only want to grow to know him further as the video continues.
"Up Syndrome" is a bit long and does contain a few seemingly irrelevant scenes throughout it's 82 minute running time. But the film's warmth and humor will captivate you, make you think, and open your eyes to a world rarely seen before. It's a world where a childhood friendship continues long after childhood ends for one, and instead of a playmate, the seeming elder has a lifelong look at innocence in his grasp. "Up Syndrome" consistently reminds us of the beauty of the world, it's simple pleasure, it's joyousness experienced through friendships and families. When Rene speaks, truth comes out. It's the truth of a child. It's the truth of an innocent. And it's important that we stop. And hear it.
Two S.A.-accented projects draw interest at Austin Film Fest
By Joseph O'Connell
Special to the San Antonio Express-News
AUSTIN - A unique friendship and a young swimmer's quest for success are at the heart of two
San Antonio-related film projects getting notice at the Austin Film Festival.
Duane Graves' documentary "Up Syndrome" profiles the filmmaker's childhood pal, Rene Moreno, a funny, vivacious, early-20s guy who happens to have Down syndrome.
Graves, a University of Texas senior, met Moreno more than a decade ago on the San Antonio street they both called home. He couldn't understand why Moreno was said to have Down syndrome when he was the most "up" person he had ever met.
"My idea was to share my friendship with everybody," said Graves, 24, whose work here is reminiscent of Robert Rodriguez's early short films.
"Up Syndrome," shot using inexpensive digital video, works because that friendship remains its heart. First-time filmmaker Graves is an occasional voice in the background as Moreno follows his passions: the San Antonio Spurs, a soon-to-be-born nephew, video games and good times.
Yet there is a harder edge. Moreno loses his job at a grocery store, is dumped by his girlfriend and is wistful for his former school days at Reddix Center in the Northside School District. Moreno is essentially a person seeking to find a place in a society that isn't sure it has a slot for people like him.
"My friends are handicapped, not me," Moreno says, and we know he will never give up.
Up Syndrome
By Peter Debruge
Austin Chronicle
In the documentary Up Syndrome, UT film student Graves forges a tender and touching character study of childhood playmate and lasting companion Rene Moreno. While some might say that 24-year-old Moreno "suffers" from Down syndrome, that's not the way Graves portrays it. Moreno makes due with his condition, hardly even acknowledging it as he focuses on his own active, humor-filled pursuits. In the same spirit that marks former Austinite Arthur Bradford's remarkable "Hows Your News?" (apparently still in limbo despite Trey Parker and Matt Stone's involvement), Graves refuses to coddle his friend's disability, instead supporting him wherever possible. Whether quoting lines from his favorite movies or coming to terms with more serious issues - like the loss of his job or breakup with his girlfriend - Moreno shares himself with us completely. He opens up to Graves, and, in turn, brings us closer to understanding his condition. And in this way, Up Syndrome offers us the opportunity to share a year with enchanting company.
Film provides better understanding
By Shari Crall
The Californian
As I sat watching "Up Syndrome" with my friend Julie Snell, I gained a new perspective. "Up Syndrome" by Duane Graves is an 82-minute first feature effort chronicling the life of his friend, Rene Moreno who has Down syndrome. It is one of the documentaries featured at the upcoming Temecula Valley International Film Festival ---- and the chance to see such films is one of the unique opportunities film festivals provide.
Julie is a Temecula mother of five beautiful girls, whose youngest, Corrie, has Down syndrome. My new perspective came from both the film and from Julie. Whereas I saw the film as chronicling life with Down syndrome, both Julie and the filmmaker wanted me to see the individual, to see Rene, not the Down.
"I always wanted to make a movie completely 100 percent about him. A visual portrait," Graves said. "He's such a compelling person and I wanted to convey that in a documentary."
Julie could relate to my initial perspective. "When you watch him in that film, it is him, his life. But there are so many expressions and actions he does that are typical of Down syndrome, you tend to generalize," Julie said. The first time she went to a dance event for Down syndrome children she had a similar reaction. "I just felt overwhelmed," Julie recalled.
"I didn't see the individualness of each person. Just a room of mentally retarded people. But now I have (Corrie) and know she is a person. That allows an acceptance to come that looks past the disability."
Filmmaker Graves wants us to make that journey together as we see him meet his neighbor, Rene. They become friends, growing up together. The film deftly weaves footage of Rene when he was younger. Highlights like athletic awards and school graduation, getting ready for work. Graves also shows us the other side. We see Rene get fired and frustrated as he can't find another job. We see his world shrink further as his childhood protections fall away and fewer in the adult world are willing to look at the man, Rene.
We see his capabilities and his limitations and it pushes us to want to open a place in this world for him.
As Julie said, people with the syndrome live such a simple reality.
"Everything is just how it is," Julie said. Like Rene's reading of the year 2000 always as "two-zero-zero-zero."
"His reality is not our reality," Julie said, "and they know they are different. But it is such an invaluable humanizing influence!"
"When I first found out, I knew it was a blessing," Julie said, "but the reality made me afraid a little bit. This film showed the value of a life ---- of his life. Down (syndrome) is such an unaccepted different. They look a little different. I loved getting to know who he was."
Don't miss your chance at new perspectives or to meet Duane and Rene.
Up Syndrome
Fort Worth Film Festival
Sincere, heartfelt documentary. Filmmaker Duane Graves draws on old home video footage and short films he directed to show us a fun-loving, happy adult living with Down syndrome quite talented at sound effects, mimicry and acting, who, in his own way, tries living his dreams every day with the support of loving family and friends. A unique and affecting film.