"We are the World": the documentary film to meet disabled athletes

Virginie Phulpin 7:25 a.m., June 24, 2022

This morning you give us a movie tip.

Sunday Canal+ broadcasts "We are People".

A documentary by Philippe Fontana and Michael Jéremiasz which deciphers the history of disabled sport and its role in the search for equality.  

I had spoken to this microphone about the launch of the fundraising campaign of Philippe Fontana and Michael Jéremiasz.

And I'm going to do two seconds of complacency.

I did well that day because this film is magnificent.

I encourage you to watch it, you will learn a lot of things, ask yourself fundamental questions, discover testimonials from athletes, revisit the history of disabled sport, and be amazed.

"We are People" is a road-trip through seven countries and three continents.

With a beautiful image, you are really on this journey.

A journey in search of equality.

Michael Jeremiasz is the narrator.

You know him, Paralympic wheelchair tennis champion in Beijing in 2008. And he wanted to tell his story, starting with his skiing accident.

The kind of accident that happens every day and resonates with many families.

But in discussion with the director, Philippe Fontana, they wanted to integrate this little story into the big one.

By talking to athletes from all over the world, faced with the same problems.

There is for example a Quebecer, Chantal Petitclerc, who says something very right.

Paralympic athletes are constantly referred to their disability, especially in the media, we can also make a mea culpa.

That is to say that when she wins a gold medal in athletics, the first question she is asked, again and again, is about her accident.

Not when she breaks a world record!

She's a sportswoman, at that moment she thinks of winning, not of her accident.

Like other athletes.

We are People, we are a people, 

We see in this documentary that sport shows the way forward for the 15% of people with disabilities in the world.

Sport is an environment in which we fulfill ourselves.

We prove to ourselves that it is possible.

We see it through the testimonies of the film.

This is valid for champions, but for leisure sport as well.

A place to reduce inequalities.

And it also paves the way for changes in other areas of life, personal and professional.

This will be one of the challenges of Paris 2024. The Paralympic Games must be the start of something.

Open doors.

England managed to do this after London 2012, with the employment market opening up to people with disabilities, in the wake of the games that captivated the country and changed the way people view disability.

Today in France, someone with a disability is twice as likely to be unemployed as a valid person.

We are People talks about sports,

but not only, the film also opens horizons.

All this is very serious, documented, but I reassure you right away, you will also laugh.

Michael Jéremiasz says it, humor is the best tool for getting messages across.

And that, too, is successful.

We are People, Sunday at 9 p.m. on Canal Plus.