“At Sundance 2020 Jerry Rothwell’s exhilarating film, The Reason I Jump, distinguished itself by winning both the Audience and World Cinema Documentary Awards. Based on the book by Naoki Higashida, a non-verbal autistic 13 year-old , The Reason I Jump is a revelation illustrating sensorially divergent ways of experiencing reality. These ways form a constellation of experience and the constellation is spectacular. Melding Higashida’s prose with five intimate portraits of communicating non-verbal young people from around the world Rothwell brilliantly demonstrates the challenges and magnificence of different minds.” —Laurence Kardish, FilmColumbia co-artistic director and former senior film curator at MoMA
“This small film is a masterclass in communication for anyone ready to listen.” — Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International
“Naoki Higashida’s groundbreaking first-person account of living with autism becomes an inventive, sensuous documentary worthy of its source.” — Guy Lodge, Variety
directed by
Jerry Rothwell
Jerry Rothwell
written by
Naoki Higashida (based on the book by)
Naoki Higashida (based on the book by)
with
Jordan O'Donegan
Jordan O'Donegan
country
USA, UK
USA, UK
production company
Vulcan Productions, Runaway Fridge, BFI Film Fund, Met Film Production, British Film Institute, The Ideas Room
Vulcan Productions, Runaway Fridge, BFI Film Fund, Met Film Production, British Film Institute, The Ideas Room