Daniel Monks

0:00

- [Narrator] Photos of a pale,

0:01

dark-haired boy are distorted in various ways.

0:03

- [Daniel] I used to have these two secrets

0:05

that I would go to bed with every night.

0:07

And every night hope and pray

0:09

that I would wake up and that it'd be different.

0:11

And one was that I was gay, and one was that I wore diapers.

0:15

And I honestly thought that I would go to the grave

0:18

not telling anyone those things.

0:20

- [Narrator] He wears a dinosaur costume.

0:22

- [Daniel] So much of my challenges

0:24

and my hardest times were due to internalizing

0:27

the perception that society had

0:28

of gay people or disabled people,

0:29

and turning that prejudice or hatred onto myself.

0:33

- [Narrator] Concentric rings divide a young man's face.

0:36

- [Daniel] I didn't see anyone on screen, on stage, in media

0:39

who were proudly and openly disabled

0:43

that I could look up to.

0:45

- [Narrator] Title, Perspective Shift,

0:47

a line expands under the name Daniel Monks.

0:51

In an empty theater, the slim, curly-haired Daniel

0:54

performs on a spotlit stage.

0:56

He turns, stumbling slightly on his thinner right leg,

0:59

as his left hand moves dynamically,

1:02

his thin right arm hangs by his side.

1:04

- Having God, her conscience, and these bars against me,

1:07

and I no threatens to bat my suit with all,

1:09

but the plain devil and dissembling looks

1:12

and yet to win her.

1:16

Since coming out of the womb all I wanted to do is perform.

1:20

- [Annie] Being born is important.

1:22

- [Daniel] When she was seven months pregnant with me,

1:23

my mom who was an actress, going through the experience

1:26

of pregnancy, she decided to tell her story.

1:28

She added it in a one woman show

1:30

about pregnancy called From Here To Maternity.

1:34

So I was in-vitro onstage with her every night.

1:38

It felt like I was kinda pre-ordained with it

1:40

and kinda like I was born to do it.

1:43

- [Narrator] Text Annie Murtagh-Monks, Daniel's mom.

1:46

- He was always the kid in kindergarten, first, second class

1:51

where he was organizing his other mates

1:54

putting on little plays.

1:55

- When I was in year two I adapted the Disney film

1:59

"Peter Pan" for the stage, and I made my year two class

2:02

put it on with myself playing Peter.

2:04

And then year three I adapted "Alice In Wonderland"

2:06

and made my year three class do it with me,

2:08

playing the White Rabbit.

2:09

- [Annie] He also, as a child, acted in a few things.

2:13

He ended up acting in a few commercials.

2:16

- I was always performing,

2:17

and I was doing like every dance class possible,

2:20

I was doing like jazz, tap, ballet, liturgical.

2:23

I was doing acting classes.

2:24

I was very obsessed with it

2:28

and had a lot of energy and just loved it all.

2:31

- This was his first attempt at doing his own makeup.

2:35

(laughing)

2:38

- [Narrator] Makeup streaks his toddler face.

2:39

In photos and home videos, young Daniel

2:42

dances around without restricted movement.

2:44

- [Daniel] I grew up in Perth, Western Australia,

2:47

to Kim Monks, my father, who's an electronic engineer,

2:50

and Annie Murtagh-Monks, my mother who was an actress,

2:53

but when I was about two or three,

2:55

moved into casting and is now a casting director.

2:58

I have an older brother, Nicholas Monks, Nicki,

3:00

who's 18 months older than me, and we're very close,

3:02

we look like twins as kids and kinda treated as twins.

3:06

And my youngest sister, Becky, Rebecca Monks,

3:09

who is five and a half years younger than me

3:11

and is extraordinary.

3:13

We're a very close family.

3:15

- [Narrator] In cowboy gear, young Daniel performs onstage

3:18

with a large chorus of children behind him.

3:22

♪ (Mumbles) funny ♪

3:25

♪ That you called though right now ♪

3:28

- [Daniel] When I was in year six,

3:29

I was auditioning for things, I was shortlisted

3:32

down to the final two for a kid's TV series.

3:34

And my PE teacher at school mentioned to my mom

3:37

that when I sprinted, it looked like I favored my left side,

3:39

like I was kinda galloping.

3:41

- [Annie] Something was niggling at Kim, my husband, and I.

3:46

- They did a brain scan and then the radiographer

3:48

just noticed at the top of my spinal cord

3:50

there was something.

3:51

- [Annie] And so suddenly

3:52

our whole world changed like overnight.

3:55

The neurosurgeon said we have to do

3:57

a biopsy to see what this tumor is.

4:02

- [Daniel] After he closed me up from the biopsy test,

4:04

my tumor swelled from the incision that was taken

4:07

and I didn't have post-operative steroids

4:09

to stop the swelling,

4:10

and so it damaged all the nerves

4:12

and some of them irreparably.

4:14

Within two weeks my left arm came back

4:15

and most of my left leg.

4:17

Fortunately one incredible neurosurgeon,

4:21

even though it was deemed by others to be inoperable,

4:23

he said I think I can operate on it.

4:25

My right arm never regained functional use,

4:27

my right leg partially did.

4:29

- [Narrator] In home videos, Daniel uses a wheelchair,

4:31

he's wheeled through school by friends.

4:34

- Thursday at lunchtime to be surprised it's 10 past.

4:39

It was a really challenging, tough adjustment for me

4:42

especially when going back to school.

4:44

It was kinda compounded in difficulty

4:45

because at the same time

4:47

that my body had changed and was changing,

4:50

it was also around the same time that I realized

4:51

that I like boys, and I discovered what gay means.

4:55

My only knowledge and experience of gay people

4:58

was Will and Grace, and Queer Eye For The Straight Guy,

5:01

who were both very much presented as clowns.

5:04

And I didn't think that as a gay person

5:05

you could be powerful, I didn't think as a gay person

5:08

you could be someone that people respect and admire.

5:10

I thought you were the comic relief for the straight people.

5:13

I had a crush on this boy in my year, year seven.

5:16

And he was dating as much as you do, as a 12 year old,

5:20

the pretty blonde girl in my year.

5:22

And I remember watching them and seeing them dating,

5:27

and thinking because now my body no longer felt like my own,

5:31

and it felt quite arbitrary to me,

5:32

then I felt like well if I had her body,

5:35

if I looked like her, then he would look at me the same way,

5:37

he would wanna kiss me the same way,

5:39

and he would love me the same way.

5:40

- [Narrator] Teenage Daniel maneuvers his wheelchair.

5:42

Later he walks unevenly through a fountain, then poses.

5:45

- [Annie] So here we're going backwards.

5:48

Are you just doing wheelies with your bike?

5:51

- [Daniel] I had internalized so much homophobia,

5:53

and internalized so much ableism.

5:55

And ableism is the word for discrimination and prejudice

5:58

against people with disabilities or against disability.

6:01

- [Narrator] Teenage Daniel smiles with friends.

6:03

- [Daniel] I didn't know other disabled people in my life,

6:05

I didn't have disabled role models.

6:07

I thought, because of what society had told me,

6:09

that being disabled meant that I was lesser

6:11

because by definition something is wrong with you.

6:15

When I was 13 years old, I emailed

6:20

one of the main drama schools in Australia,

6:22

and I said look I have a disability, physical disability,

6:26

and I was wondering if you accept disabled people

6:28

into your acting degree?

6:30

And I got a response saying we train actors

6:33

for potential careers, and since there's

6:34

not much possibility of a career for disabled actor,

6:37

we're not sure.

6:38

And that really kinda put the nail in the coffin

6:40

of what I thought my dream for my life could be.

6:44

- [Narrator] He sinks into an ocean pool.

6:46

- [Daniel] I remember one time

6:47

I tried to drown myself in the swimming pool one afternoon.

6:53

I don't think it was a cry for help or attention

6:54

'cause I never told anyone about it.

6:57

But also as well, I don't think it was

6:59

like I actually wanted to die in like that sense,

7:02

I just wanted everything to stop and go away.

7:05

- [Narrator] Daniel floats in the green sea water.

7:07

His body and limbs drifting under the silvery surface.

7:10

Cut to blank.

7:11

Daniel is interviewed in the living room set.

7:13

Stage lights and curtains are visible behind him.

7:17

- [Daniel] After I thought that now because I'm disabled

7:19

I'm not able to have a career as an actor.

7:21

I remember my dad had a business trip to Sydney

7:24

when I was 15, and I went over with him.

7:26

And I went and did a tour of AFTRS,

7:29

the Australian Film, Television, and Radio School,

7:30

and I was like this is the place I wanna go.

7:32

I bought a big book on the history of AFTRS,

7:35

and I was like I wanna be a film director

7:38

and I wanna go to AFTRS.

7:39

- [Narrator] He sits near an AFTRS sign.

7:41

- [Daniel] I knew that I obviously had to graduate

7:42

high school, and then also as well at that time,

7:45

they only offered post-graduate courses,

7:46

so you need an undergraduate degree.

7:48

And so in the interim I became

7:50

an avid obsessive lover of cinema.

7:53

And I also, while in Perth and waiting,

7:57

I was doing these amazing screen workshops,

7:59

called Pat's Screen Workshops,

8:01

which are for actors, writers, and directors.

8:03

- [Narrator] In photos, a young woman

8:04

works on set with Daniel.

8:06

- Because of those classes, I met Stevie Cruz-Martin,

8:08

who's my film partner.

8:10

- [Narrator] Stevie is interviewed.

8:11

Her long brown hair frames her pale oval face.

8:13

- One of the best times of my life meeting Dan.

8:16

We were working in like a director,

8:18

writer, actor course that his mom was running.

8:22

- [Daniel] Stevie is effortlessly cool.

8:23

Like she's someone who everyone falls in love with,

8:26

and she is magnetic.

8:28

Immediately and somewhat probably a subconsciously

8:31

manipulative way I'm like I'm gonna make her my friend.

8:34

And I made her my friend.

8:35

- He had a DP who pulled out the day before his shoot,

8:38

and asked if I could step in like the night before.

8:41

And we did and then that was it.

8:44

We worked together and stylistically

8:46

we just knew we were aligned.

8:48

And now it's like 11 years later or something.

8:51

- [Daniel] We ended up making

8:52

a number of short films together.

8:54

I think we made six short films

8:55

that went to international film festivals.

8:57

- [Narrator] A film clip.

8:58

- I know how wrong it is.

9:00

- He's your best friend.

9:02

- [Daniel] At the end of that year of workshops in Perth,

9:04

AFTRS for the first time in a while offered

9:08

an undergraduate course called the foundation of (mumbles).

9:11

So I applied and very fortunately got in,

9:13

so I moved to Sydney.

9:14

- [Stevie] Even when Danny moved to Sydney to do AFTRS,

9:18

we were really cheeky in that we'd work out ways

9:20

that I could either fly to Sydney to shoot it,

9:23

or we'd organize shooting it in Perth.

9:26

We'd only been working together somewhere between

9:29

six to 12 months, but we just knew that the partnership

9:33

was so strong, that we wanted to do that.

9:35

- So the catalyst for really deciding that I wanted to make

9:38

a feature film and this was the story I wanted to tell

9:41

was when I presented my short film, Herman and Marjorie,

9:45

at the end of first year.

9:46

- [Narrator] Elderly Herman kisses Marjorie's white hair.

9:49

A young man wearing only underwear stands in their bedroom.

9:52

- Herman.

9:53

- No no no please look look.

9:55

I bought you that dress on our tour to Albany.

10:00

Your favorite number is seven.

10:03

Your favorite color's blue.

10:05

And your favorite word is rhythm.

10:07

- [Narrator] Marjorie frowns at the young man.

10:10

- Herman?

10:11

- [Daniel] One of the teachers, Ian Brown, said in feedback

10:14

said have you thought about making this into feature?

10:16

I felt like there's more to it.

10:17

Something I did as a very young filmmaker

10:20

where I was always looking for

10:21

the intellectually interesting idea,

10:23

as opposed to the emotionally truthful idea.

10:25

And what Stevie would always say,

10:26

which kinda became a mantra when writing,

10:28

is like don't try for interesting,

10:30

there's nothing more interesting than the truth.

10:32

So if you try for the truth,

10:33

that will be the most interesting thing.

10:35

And it made me really think. And I was like oh okay.

10:37

And I remember going home and thinking,

10:39

and the first thing I thought was well

10:41

if I'm gonna make a feature, I have to have the story

10:44

included about two young teenage boys,

10:47

and one of them is secretly in love with the other

10:49

so he changes to the body of a beautiful woman

10:50

so he can make the other boy fall in love with him.

10:53

- [Narrator] Pages from his script

10:54

titled "Pulse" glide past.

10:56

Annie is interviewed.

10:57

- [Annie] I think the first three times I read it,

10:59

I was always in a blubbering mess.

11:01

(laughing)

11:02

'Cause although it's not, it is a fiction,

11:05

there are so many powerful messages in the film

11:10

about people's attitudes to their bodies,

11:14

their attitudes to their sexuality.

11:18

- I think initially he'd written the script

11:20

and we approached producers, that was the first step.

11:23

And there was no interest.

11:25

- Pulse isn't an easy genre to slot into.

11:28

- [Stevie] But we were also first time filmmakers.

11:30

We couldn't showcase that we could carry a 90 minute film

11:34

over the line.

11:35

- It was kinda all or nothing for us.

11:37

Like whenever it got hard I just thought about

11:40

me at 13 watching this film.

11:42

Like that was what got me through.

11:44

And even if it's rubbish,

11:46

even if there's technical problems,

11:47

even if there's plot holes, whatever,

11:50

as long as that story is told

11:52

and there is authenticity in that,

11:55

and it's told as honestly as possible,

11:57

then that's a win for us.

11:59

- [Narrator] In home video,

12:00

young Daniel arches his eyebrows.

12:03

- [Stevie] Dan and I were just at home one night

12:04

and we're like all right well, no one likes it,

12:07

everyone hates it, we're just gonna have to do it.

12:09

Like we're just gonna need to do it.

12:11

- The little money I had was from an out of court settlement

12:14

from medical negligence

12:15

from the complications from the biopsy.

12:18

I ended up getting 1/12 of the compensation I needed,

12:21

and then 60% went to lawyers, so it wasn't a lotta money.

12:24

So I put quite a bit of my own money into it.

12:28

- [Narrator] Standing before a cinema screen,

12:30

Daniel gazes up at home videos of his child self.

12:34

- [Daniel] When I put acting to bed, it was hard,

12:36

but I also very much didn't even tell anyone

12:39

that I had ever wanted to be an actor.

12:41

If I met new people, I never mentioned

12:42

that I ever acted as a kid.

12:44

I was very almost closeted about my acting desire.

12:49

So this was about two or three years into developing it

12:53

that I realized that look if I'm ever going to act,

12:58

if I'm ever gonna even for one project fulfill this dream

13:02

of being an actor and acting, then this is the one time

13:06

I can give myself this opportunity.

13:08

And also there's no one, I can't think of another actor

13:11

who is more right to tell this story than me,

13:13

it's literally based on me,

13:16

based on my experiences and feelings and everything.

13:18

So it was quite a exciting, terrifying, empowering thing

13:22

when I finally decided that

13:24

I really wanted to play the character of Olly.

13:27

- [Narrator] Daniel stands facing an acting coach.

13:29

They wobble their cheeks with their hands,

13:31

then pinch their noses.

13:33

- Scrunch up your nose like a petulant child.

13:35

We're gonna go me, me, me, me.

13:37

- Me, me, me, me, me.

13:39

When I decided that I wanted to act in this film,

13:41

I did like at least two acting classes a week

13:43

for like two years in preparation, where I really learned

13:46

acting and really what with lots of different teachers.

13:49

I never feel more free, I never feel more present,

13:52

and I never feel more alive than I do when I'm acting.

13:56

- [Narrator] In Pulse, a high school girl

13:57

sits with Olly in his hospital bed.

13:59

A teenage boy laughs nearby.

14:02

- I'm not even sure I can do it, but like I just think

14:04

maybe that I might have my new body like

14:10

might be a woman.

14:12

(laughing)

14:13

- [Narrator] The boy laughs, the girl looks quizzical.

14:15

During the shoot, Daniel sits in a corridor.

14:18

His forehead pressed to Stevie's shoulder.

14:20

His hand gripping her wrist.

14:23

- [Camera Man] Cutting.

14:25

- [Assistant Director] Is that what you need Joe?

14:26

- [Camera Man] That's all I want.

14:27

- [Assistant Director] Ladies and gentlemen.

14:28

(talking over each other)

14:31

Ladies and gentlemen, Pulse,

14:32

I am very very excited to say that that is a wrap

14:36

on principle photography for Pulse, well done.

14:38

(cheering)

14:40

- [Narrator] Daniel and Stevie hug.

14:42

- [Daniel] It just really reinforced me

14:43

that my favorite part of filmmaking is acting.

14:46

And I'll always love cinema, but I most wanna act in cinema.

14:50

And that you know what?

14:52

Maybe I can have a career as this and maybe

14:57

it's actually important that I give this a real shot.

15:00

I spent what ended up being a year editing the film

15:04

pretty much five to seven days a week for a year.

15:07

And it was grueling. - But we got it to a place

15:11

and we thought we have to have a screening.

15:13

And we screened it in Perth,

15:14

and we had sort of a questionnaire.

15:16

And the feedback was pretty amazing.

15:20

There were things to change but it was really positive.

15:23

- [Annie] After the screening, finding four women

15:27

in the toilet bawling their eyes out

15:28

just saying that they were so moved by the film,

15:31

and I just remember thinking yeah it is a powerful film.

15:35

- And then the yeah the rejections started coming through.

15:39

- [Narrator] Daniel wears an ankle and foot orthotic,

15:41

and uses one forearm crutch as he walks alone on the beach.

15:45

- [Daniel] When this film was done,

15:46

we didn't have distributors, we didn't have finance backing.

15:49

Our only option to go to get it into the marketplace

15:52

and get it seen is to get into festivals,

15:54

that was our only option,

15:55

and so there was a lot riding on it,

15:56

and we were very very nervous when submitting.

15:58

So the top tier film festivals are the big ones,

16:01

Cannes in South of France, then you also have Sundance,

16:04

you have Venice, you have Berlin, and you have Toronto.

16:07

I mean in the western world,

16:09

those are really like the big ones,

16:10

and those were the ones that we first went for.

16:13

And unfortunately we were rejected for all of those.

16:16

- [Stevie] Then it was the top tier LGBT film festivals

16:19

that we also then were getting rejected for.

16:21

And it was like well we're too niche for the mainstream.

16:25

We also weren't right for our family festivals.

16:29

Our LGBT it was really blowing our mind.

16:34

- I think when we first started going the festival circuit,

16:36

we're a bit too early.

16:38

At that time the diversity discussion was definitely

16:40

present, but disability was not a part of the discussion.

16:44

It was often as disability usually is,

16:46

is invisible or forgotten.

16:50

I feel like the greatest challenges we used to say

16:52

disabled people face aren't our impairments,

16:54

what's hard is really facing the prejudice, attitudes,

17:00

or obstacles that our society put against us.

17:04

- [Narrator] Facing the ocean, Daniel removes his shirt.

17:07

- [Stevie] We've spent so much of Danny's money,

17:10

we've spent so much money of people that we really love

17:13

and respect, and the festivals were fading

17:15

and they were going, and you're thinking this is gonna be

17:18

another one of those films that just goes under the bed.

17:21

- [Narrator] Bubbles streaming from his mouth,

17:23

Daniel sinks into the green water,

17:25

eyes squeezed shut, he swims.

17:28

- [Daniel] I think mom and Stevie had

17:29

a kinda like a general meeting with some filmmaker friends

17:34

of ours who had experience with distribution

17:36

and stuff like that.

17:37

And there was kinda like where do we go now?

17:39

We haven't got into festivals.

17:40

What should we do?

17:41

What's kinda the plan?

17:42

One of them mentioned oh I think the programmer for Busan

17:46

is in Australia at the moment,

17:47

you should get in touch with the (mumbles)

17:49

'cause he might've already left, so get in touch.

17:51

Very generously of him, the wonderful programmer

17:54

from Busan International Film Festival, agreed to watch it.

17:57

- [Narrator] Olly stumbles as he walks.

17:58

Text Dosin Pak, Busan International Film Festival.

18:01

- [Dosin] Okay my role is I'm a programmer,

18:03

and what I do is basically

18:06

select the films for the festival.

18:08

As a whole, our programmers watch about more than

18:12

4,000 films per year, so that's a lot.

18:17

The film was very unique, and not to mention,

18:20

the performance from Daniel Monks was just superb.

18:26

Before I watched the film I didn't know anything about him.

18:30

And while I watching it, I thought maybe

18:33

he was a very professional actor

18:36

that was very quite popular in Australia

18:39

because his acting was so real that it makes me feel

18:43

like watching documentary, you know?

18:45

It was one of the film that I thought

18:47

that I definitely should have this one for the festival.

18:52

- It wasn't that long, it was maybe a week or a few days

18:55

or something, we hear back from him and he's like

18:58

I love the film and I want it to play,

19:00

I want it to be a part of an international program,

19:04

and I also wanna put it out for the flash forward award,

19:06

and it has a $20,000 cash prize.

19:09

- [Narrator] At Busan, photographers

19:10

crowd the glamorous red carpet.

19:12

A huge cinema is packed.

19:14

- [Daniel] So we found out we got into Busan

19:16

and (mumbles) competition.

19:18

So we were just so stoked for.

19:20

But what I didn't realize was it was

19:22

the most important film festival for Asian cinema,

19:24

but it also is really highly respected around the world.

19:27

It didn't sink in until we actually got to the festival.

19:30

- [Narrator] In photos, Daniel and Stevie are interviewed.

19:33

They pose besides a huge poster for Pulse and in a cinema.

19:37

- [Stevie] These beautiful films you know

19:38

from Germany and London, and they had budgets

19:42

of sort of two to six million Euros.

19:45

- [Daniel] It was already ridiculous

19:45

that we're even in competition, and we had no illusions

19:49

that we were at all at a chance of winning.

19:51

I mean like truly to the point where.

19:56

So the night before closing night,

19:58

we were out with the filmmaker friends

20:00

at like a bar near the hotel that we're all staying at.

20:04

I was like one of the first people to leave,

20:06

but it was like midnight.

20:08

I got to the hotel, we got in the lobby,

20:09

and then Dosin was in the lobby

20:11

and he looked very panicked.

20:16

And I was like is everything okay? Is everything okay?

20:17

He's like yes, yes, I just need to speak to you and Stevie.

20:19

And I was like okay okay.

20:21

Dosin's like I just wanna let you know that

20:25

Pulse has won the flash forward (mumbles) award,

20:27

and so there's gonna be an announcement

20:30

at the closing ceremonies tomorrow,

20:31

and so you both need to present a speech.

20:34

And also there's gonna be an encore screening for the winner

20:38

tomorrow morning in the largest theater of Busan.

20:42

And we were just like

20:46

it was ridiculous.

20:48

(speaking in a foreign language)

20:53

(applause)

20:57

- [Narrator] In the huge cinema,

20:58

Daniel who was using a crutch, and Stevie,

21:00

leave their front row seats and go on stage.

21:03

They bow to the presenters.

21:05

- [Daniel] Let me just work that out.

21:06

2009 we finished it in the can beginning of 2017,

21:09

how many years is that?

21:10

Can anyone do maths for me?

21:12

Eight.

21:13

It was eight years.

21:14

And now it's almost a decade.

21:16

First of all, I really wanna thank the Korean audiences

21:19

who really embraced this story, which was one

21:22

that we put a lot of time and a lot of heart into

21:25

and it's been so wonderful to receive this response.

21:29

- [Narrator] Daniel and Stevie pose at a media award,

21:32

beaming, they walk down a red carpet.

21:34

- [Dosin] I know there was of the audience

21:37

there's some of them from our gay communities

21:40

and disability communities.

21:42

After the film was over, there was a big standing ovation.

21:46

- [Stevie] And we probably signed

21:47

like 1,000 autographs that day.

21:49

Like it was, they were like what.

21:50

And people were crying.

21:52

- [Annie] They call me.

21:53

(laughing)

21:54

They called me and they were blown away,

21:57

absolutely blown away.

22:00

- [Daniel] It was just such a catharsis and a relief

22:02

and it just felt like this thing

22:04

that we'd been working so hard for for so long.

22:07

That (mumbles) with this film door arrived

22:10

that maybe we could actually have a career in this thing.

22:12

Maybe that this passion of ours,

22:14

maybe we actually had a place in this industry.

22:16

And yeah, we could actually do this for our lives.

22:20

- [Narrator] In photos, Daniel and Stevie sit

22:22

holding hands in the cinema.

22:23

Daniel beams.

22:24

Stevie's face is full of emotion.

22:26

They pose wryly with their trophy.

22:30

Daniel is filmed being interviewed on the red carpet.

22:34

- We just like to ask, what's Pulse about?

22:36

Can you tell us a little bit?

22:37

- Absolutely, Pulse is about a gay disabled (mumbles) boy.

22:43

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards,

22:46

that's great yes.

22:47

So basically they're the Australian Academy Awards,

22:49

so they're the equivalent of the American Oscars

22:51

or the British BAFTAs, and I'm nominated

22:53

for best lead actor in a feature film,

22:55

which is, for an actor, like the top award

22:59

you can be nominated for.

23:00

And also, for my feature film debut,

23:03

which is also especially exciting

23:05

because even now I've never had an audition

23:07

for an Australian feature film before.

23:09

So I literally made a film myself and put myself in it,

23:13

and now I'm nominated for best lead actor,

23:15

so it's pretty exciting.

23:17

- [Narrator] Annie reads from the Sydney Morning Herald.

23:20

- Gay, disabled, and on the short list for best actor.

23:24

And reading it, it just blew me away

23:28

at how far Daniel's come and what an amazing human he is.

23:36

- [Daniel] The most special thing that came off the back

23:39

of Pulse, and that I don't think I would've been

23:41

entrusted with the role had the director not seen Pulse,

23:46

was I got to play Joseph Merrick in

23:48

The Real and Imagined History of The Elephant Man,

23:50

written by Tom Wright, directed by Matthew Lutton,

23:52

at the Malthouse Theatre, which was

23:54

one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

23:59

He experiences so much pain in his life and so much trauma,

24:02

but that final scene was just the most joyous cathartic

24:06

release because it was like him claiming his story.

24:09

I was then nominated for a Green Room Award

24:11

for best lead actor in a play, at the Green Room Awards

24:13

and the Melbourne Theatre Awards.

24:15

And then on top of that, the Helpmann Awards,

24:17

which are the Australia's national theater awards,

24:19

which are kinda the equivalent of the Tony's in America,

24:22

or the Olivier's on the West End,

24:24

and I got a Helpmann nomination.

24:26

And the other nominees were Hugo Weaving,

24:29

and then there was like this guy, no one knows who I am.

24:32

Like main stage theater debut, little kid from nowhere.

24:34

And it was just extraordinary.

24:37

It was a dream I gave up.

24:38

And so now the dream that I picked up again

24:42

is coming through further than I ever thought possible.

24:45

- [Narrator] In Pulse, Olly laughs, parties drunkenly,

24:47

boisterously hugs his friends, and lies in hospital.

24:50

- [Daniel] Storytelling has such power

24:52

and media has such power and now more than ever,

24:54

everything is online now and via media.

24:57

And it's like how we represent disabled people

25:01

or any minority has such real life impacts

25:04

on that community.

25:05

Not only how that community is treated

25:06

by the rest of the majority, but also

25:08

how that community perceives and treats themselves.

25:11

- [Narrator] Olly is glum faced,

25:12

teenage Daniel accepts an award.

25:14

- [Daniel] The tragedy and the struggle of my experience

25:16

when I acquired my disability wasn't the fact that my arm

25:19

doesn't move, wasn't the fact that I acquired an impairment.

25:22

That the tragedy and the struggle of it was facing

25:25

society's expectations of me, their attitudes towards me,

25:29

the barriers they put up, and then me internalizing

25:31

those expectations and attitudes

25:33

into my perception of myself.

25:35

- [Narrator] After Pulse is wrapped,

25:36

the cast and crew celebrate in a corridor.

25:38

Clapping, hugging, and dancing.

25:40

- [Daniel] My parents always raised my sister and my bother

25:44

and I that you can do anything you want in this life,

25:47

and you can be and do anything you want,

25:50

but no one is gonna give it to you

25:53

and you're not entitled to it.

25:54

But if you work hard enough, then you can achieve it.

25:57

- [Narrator] On a cinema screen,

25:58

Olly dances in a living room.

26:01

- [Daniel] And like Pulse is a perfect example.

26:03

The only thing that got me through that

26:05

was thinking of that 12 or 13 year old disabled kid,

26:10

or even just that kid who feels different and alone,

26:13

watching that film and having an impact on him (mumbles).

26:18

- [Narrator] Olly smiles pensively from the cinema screen.

26:21

- [Daniel] Hard work has no steam if not for having

26:24

a strong purpose, and that's kinda what I discovered.

26:27

- [Narrator] Daniel nods then laughs.

26:29

Cut to black.

26:32

Credits Attitude Foundation

26:34

presents a Taste Creative production.

26:36

Producers Leah James, Briana Miller.

26:38

Executive producers Sally Browning, S.P.A., Henry Smith.

26:41

Series writer and director, Genevieve Clay-Smith.

26:44

Editor Javed Sterritt.

26:46

Directed by Genevieve Clay-Smith.

26:48

Audio description by The Substation.

26:51

Filmed on location in New South Wales, Australia,

26:54

and California, U.S.A.,

26:55

on the traditional lands of the Gadigal, Dharawal,

26:58

and Gabrielino/Tongva peoples.

27:01

The logos for Victoria Australia, ANZ inclusively made,

27:04

Taste Creative, Attitude Foundation.

27:06

Copyright 2019.

27:07

Taste Creative, proprietary limited.