I Didn't See You There

I Didn’t See You There is an innovative, expressionistic and deeply personal film, and the debut documentary feature by filmmaker Reid Davenport. Shot entirely from first-person perspective, with a camera affixed to the filmmaker’s electric wheelchair, Davenport immerses the viewer in his point of view, narrating his daily journeys, and the indignities of traversing the world in a wheelchair. When a looming circus tent is erected in his Oakland neighbourhood, Reid is compelled to reflect on the damaging legacy of the circus freak show and its framing of disability as spectacle.

People are usually seeing me but not hearing me, so I wanted to do the opposite. I really just wanted to show how a disabled person does - or does not - fit into society, and how disabled people need to adapt to be “palatable” to society. I wanted to present an approximate version of my vision, without giving viewers the “satisfaction” of looking at me. […] This isn’t an autobiography. This is a film about me in a specific place and time - or, I should say, a version of me that doesn’t exist in real life. It’s a specific version that you see on-screen.

Director Reid Davenport