Don’t Foil My Plans
http://dontfoil.com/about-the-film/
Justin Canha is a 24-year-old autistic whose mind races with cartoon images and movie dialogue. He fills notebooks with nanoscale drawings of every imaginable cartoon character. His speech is peppered with animated film sound bites and when alone, he rattles off nonstop cartoon dialogue. Because of his autism, everything he sees is through the prism of cartoon culture. But there is far more to Justin than his incredible capacity for detail and his obsession with the animated universe. Like many of us, Justin has a dream of living an independent life, and he has set the deadline for his 25th birthday. For five years, award-winning director Ben Stamper followed Justin as he entered the uncharted waters of adulthood. Don’t Foil My Plans is the story of a young man with a dream that is far bigger than his diagnosis.
But often, the biggest dreams are realized in the very mundane aspects of life, which is where this film begins. The opening scene to Don’t Foil My Plans depicts Justin’s mother training him to navigate the NYC public transit system so he can commute on his own. From there, the camera follows Justin everywhere from his job at the local bakery to learning household chores. Through it all, it is clear that Justin never steps out of his cartoon world. He furtively works on his impossibly small drawings, sharing them with whoever happens to be around. He deftly uses cartoon culture, cartoon dialogue, and tiny drawings as a social bridge and vehicle for self-expression. Justin insists on pulling others into his world as much as he tries to function in theirs. Scenes like these provide new insight into the interpersonal possibilities with people on the spectrum.
This film’s objective is twofold: to enable Justin to tell his story on his terms and to help shift the public dialogue away from “What are we going to do with all of the new autistic adults?” to “How can we empower this autistic generation to reach their full potential in the workplace, in higher education, and as leaders in the public sphere?”
Because this film is a portrait of Justin Canha as an individual rather than an issue, his story arises out of genuine relationship and shared experience. Featured in the film are family members, friends, and professionals all serving to shape and be shaped by Justin. Justin’s parents, Maria Teresa and Briant, are depicted in the struggles of the present day, as well as in home movies from Justin’s childhood that reveal relentless and innovative parents teaching their son seemingly simple concepts, like why it’s not okay to touch a hot stove, or when and how to say “I’m sorry.” Don’t Foil My Plans is an intricate tapestry of the past, present, and the ever-looming future. The result is a complex and surprising portrait of Justin Canha as the artist, the animal lover, the younger sibling in a suburban family, the hard-working employee at a bakery in Spanish Harlem who is engaged in a lifelong struggle to use his “handicap” as a tool for self-realization. Don’t Foil my Plans is a film about pushing the boundaries of what is considered possible for people on the autistic spectrum.
