“Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something,” says Gabby Giffords in a new trailer for Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s latest. “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” includes footage of the former Arizona Congresswoman’s speech at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence — an issue she has a very personal stake in.
Giffords was the target of an assassination attempt at a 2011 rally, a mass shooting that left six dead. She suffered an injury to the brain with a gunshot wound, placing her odds of survival at less than 10 percent. The doc sees Gifford fighting to recover, becoming a vocal gun control activist, and spreading the word about aphasia, a language condition she’s been living with since the shooting. “The words are there in my brain — I just can’t get them out,” she explains.
West and Cohen described Giffords as “one of the most spectacular human beings you will ever come across” in an interview with us, calling her “a font of energy, smarts, toughness, and charisma.” They’d like folks who watch the film to “think about what steps we can take as a nation to reduce gun violence. But perhaps even more, we want audiences to think about the intelligence, determination, and sheer force of will that has driven Gabby Giffords’ ongoing recovery from a shattering injury and about the role that deep love can play in healing,” they said.
In 2019 West and Cohen received an Oscar nomination for “RBG,” their portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Julia” and “My Name Is Pauli Murray” are among their other credits.
“Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” opens nationwide July 15 and CNN Films plans to air it later this year. The doc includes “extensive verité filming of [Giffords] and her husband, astronaut-turned-Senator Mark Kelly; interviews with Barack Obama and other friends and colleagues; and exclusive access to stunning videos taken in the weeks following her near-death experience,” per its official synopsis.
