ROCKFORD, Ill. — A Rockford filmmaker and Marine Corps veteran is bringing his award-winning documentary back to his hometown after a national film festival run.
Noah Currier’s “Sum Function” premieres May 30 at Hard Rock Casino Rockford, featuring a red-carpet screening and live Q&A with Currier, cast members and the Oscar Mike Militia wheelchair rugby team.
The film won Audience Choice for Best Feature Documentary at the Annapolis Film Festival and has earned recognition at festivals in Beverly Hills and Houston.
For Currier, the hometown showing carries the most weight.
“This is the most exciting one because it’s our hometown premiere,” he said. “Even our own friends and family haven’t had a chance to see it yet.”
“Sum Function” follows an all-veteran wheelchair rugby team made up of quadriplegic athletes, focusing on their daily lives, relationships, struggles and the bonds they built through adaptive sports.
Currier said the idea came naturally after years spent around the team.
“They were changing my life by being around them,” he said. “I thought if other people got to experience their world … there are a lot of lessons that could come from it.”
Currier never planned on directing. Before “Sum Function,” he had never led a feature-length film project.
“By accident,” he said with a laugh when asked how he got into filmmaking.
He pushed forward despite limited experience and resources, crediting an outsider’s mindset for getting him through it.
“I think if I had one thing working in my favor, it’s that I didn’t know what wasn’t possible,” he said. “In my mind, everything was possible.”
Production took about three years. Currier worked with co-director Nick Cavalier, cinematographer Dan Kwan and editor Andy Bathrick, whose credits include Marvel productions.
“Making a film is not anything anybody does alone,” Currier said. “There are a lot of fingerprints on this film from really talented people.”
The final cut runs about 94 minutes. Getting there meant sorting through more than 1,000 hours of footage, a process Currier said was among the hardest parts of making the film.
“Picking what stays and what goes was very difficult,” he said. “We were attached to certain people and moments that didn’t make the final cut.”
Outside filmmaking, Currier runs the Oscar Mike Foundation, a nonprofit he started after an accident left him paralyzed from the chest down following his return from combat. The organization supports injured veterans through adaptive sports and outdoor activities.
He said the project gave him a creative outlet that had been missing while running the foundation.
“This was definitely therapeutic,” he said. “Just being able to be creative and put all this together was huge for me.”
Currier also hopes the film challenges how audiences view disability.
“When people with disabilities are highlighted in movies or TV, it usually leans into making people feel sorry for them,” he said. “That’s not what this is.”
Sum Function premieres at 7 p.m. May 30 at Hard Rock Live inside Hard Rock Casino Rockford. The event includes the screening, cast appearances, Oscar Mike Foundation merchandise and a post-film Q&A.
Jack Ivanic is a freelance contributor to the Rockford Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford filmmaker brings story of disabled veterans to silver screen
Reporting by Jack Ivanic, Special to the Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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