PRESS RELEASE: “RIGHT FOOTED” SCREENS AT WORLD’S LARGEST AVIATION EVENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2015
Contact: Nick Spark email: nicktspark(at)gmail.com
Jessica Cox email: admin(at)rightfooted.com
Official film website: www.rightfootedmovie.com
PRESS CONFERENCE: 9 a.m. Thursday July 22, EAA Press HQ
Award WINNING DOCUMENTARY ABOUT
ARMLESS AIRPLANE PILOT JESSICA COX
TO MAKE U.S. PREMIERE AT EAA AirVENTURE
OSHKOSH, WI – Right Footed, a new documentary film about the world’s only armless airplane pilot Jessica Cox, will have its U.S. premiere July 23rd and 24th at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture, the world’s largest and most significant aviation event. The screening follows the film’s world premiere at the Mirabile Dictu Film Festival at the Vatican, Rome on June 25 where it earned the coveted “Best Documentary” award. Contact director Nick Spark nicktspark(at)gmail.com or Jessica Cox admin(at)rightfooted.com to arrange an interview.
Right Footed profiles Jessica Cox, who was born without arms as the result of a severe birth defect but who never believed that she couldn’t accomplish her dreams. Thanks to the support of her family and strong faith, Jessica managed to become fully independent and learned to type with her toes, drive a car with her feet and earned two Taekwondo black belts. She received a degree from the University of Arizona and, motivated by people who said it was impossible, began taking pilot lessons. Two years later, flying the unique Erco Ercoupe aircraft — which does not have rudder pedals — Jessica solo’d. A short time later she was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records and labeled one of Plane & Pilot Magazine’s “Top Ten Best Pilots”. Right Footed chronicles Jessica’s amazing story of overcoming adversity and learning to fly, and follows her as she becomes a mentor for children with disabilities and their families, and a disability rights advocate working in the U.S.A. and abroad.
The film was shot over a period of two years in the United States including San Manuel, Arizona where Jessica trained to fly, and Washington, D.C. where she lobbied for passage of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a major international disability treaty. The film also shows Jessica making two important trips overseas on behalf of Nobel Prize winning NGO Handicap International USA (http://www.handicap-international.us). The first was to Ethiopia, where Jessica promoted disability rights and educational opportunity; the second was to her mother’s home country of the Philippines where Jessica bolstered relief efforts in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan.
Held annually in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the EAA’s AirVenture is attended by more than a half million people and 10,000 aircraft. This year is particularly significant since it’s the 75th Anniversary of the Ercoupe — the special airplane Jessica flies. In addition to attending screenings and a special Ercoupe dinner, Jessica will be signing books and movie posters at the Ford Motor Company tent, and working with the volunteer organization Able Flight.
For Cox, who dreamed as a forlorn child about learning to fly, the film’s debut at AirVenture is especially meaningful. “Learning to fly changed my life in so many ways,” Jessica Cox explains. “It has provided me with a way to inspire so many people. What I always say when I’m speaking to groups is, ‘If I can fly an airplane with my feet, what is it that you can’t do?’” Certainly one of the lessons of Right Footed is that anything is possible if you put your mind to it, and that mentors and role models can make a difference — in aviation and in life.
The film is directed by Nick Spark, who won the L.A. Area Emmy for the documentary The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club in 2009. The film was produced by Spark and Mona Lisa Yuchengco through the non-profit International Documentary Association and will be screening at additional film festivals in the United States in the coming months.
Publicity photos and a movie poster graphic are available at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s0suj85tdj54iue/RightFootedPublicityImages.zip?dl=0
Requests to interview Jessica Cox should be sent to: admin(at)rightfooted.com
Requests to interview Nick Spark should be sent to: nicktspark(at)gmail.com
