Up Syndrome

It was picked up for distribution by CineClix shortly after its world premiere at the 2001 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and made available in the US via Amazon Prime.

Using donated digital tapes and a camera purchased with money earned from an eBay sale, indie filmmaker Duane Graves chronicles a year in the life of his charismatic childhood chum, Rene Moreno, who was born with Down Syndrome.

After graduating from a high school for special students in San Antonio, TX, Moreno sets out to make his way in the adult world, optimistically battling the prejudices his condition engenders.

[1] Later, a shortened 24-minute version of the documentary won the grand prize at film director Kevin Smith's Movies Askew contest in 2006.

[2] Scott Foundas of Daily Variety described the film as an "exceedingly playful and refreshingly unsentimental portrait" that does not fully explore its subject matter.