The Rainbow Kid Needs Your Help: Must Reach Crowdfunding Goal By April 14

By Less Lee Moore

Photo © Biserka Livaja

Whenever a movie is announced with an actor or actress playing the role of a special needs person, what is your first reaction? If you’ve seen movies like Radio or Riding The Bus With My Sister, it’s probably a groan and an eye roll (or worse).

But what about the very real scenario of an actor who also happens to be a special needs person? Dylan Harman is a 23-year-old actor with Down syndrome who starred in the award-winning 2012 short film Rainbow Connection from writer/director Kire Paputts (The Last Pogo Jumps Again).

Harman is also starring in the follow-up, a feature length expansion of the short called The Rainbow Kid. As Paputts notes, this is “not an episode of Life Goes On.” Here’s the synopsis:

A gritty coming-of-age story about a teenager with Down syndrome, The Rainbow Kid follows Eugene (Dylan Harman) whose obsession with rainbows acts as an escape from his real life, which is a mess: he’s bullied at school, the girl he likes doesn’t notice him, and his mother is terminally ill. Worse, he discovers that he and his mom are on the verge of being evicted. When Eugene decides to take matters into his own hands and decides to set out on his own to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, The Rainbow Kid takes audiences on an unconventional journey rarely seen in Canadian filmmaking.

Paputts adds: “When more mainstream films showcase actors with special needs they tend to present the content through a sympathetic lens or handle it with kid gloves, but I’m not interested in that. I want to break down barriers and go against stereotypes. This is going to be a film for a mature audience with adult subject matter. ”

If you check out the trailer, you’ll get an idea of what Paputts has in mind as well as how committed Dylan Harman is to the project.

Another thing I really like about this Kickstarter, besides the subject matter and the idea of a special needs actor playing the lead role, is that the campaign page lists all the other ways in which the project needs help, such as the ability to pay the cast and crew at scale rates, various types of equipment, and other production necessities like editing, sound design, and craft services. It’s honest and forthright; Paputts and producer Colin Brunton address the risks and challenges of the project in a similar fashion.

There are only ten days left for The Rainbow Kid to reach its $200,000 goal on Kickstarter. Please check out the page and watch the videos and donate whatever you can by April 14.