A ccessible Media Inc. (AMI) has commissioned “genre-defying” documentary film King Arthur’s Night, inspired by a medieval musical play created by artists living with and without Down syndrome.

King Arthur’s Night (pictured) is directed and produced by John Bolton (Aim for the Roses) under his Vancouver-based banner Opus 59 Films alongside producers James Long, Marcus Youssef (Winners and Losers), Niall McNeil (Lay Down Your Heart), Veda Hille (Onegin), Joan McNeil, and Virginia K. Prasad. Vince Arvidson (Bones of Crows) is the director of photography.

The film is being produced with the support of the Canada Media Fund’s POV Program, from which they received $375,000, and Creative BC’s Reel Focus BC Production Program for $50,000.

It was developed with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, from which they secured $17,000 through the Research and Creation component of its Explore and Create Program; the Creative BC and Rogers Group of Funds Documentary + Factual Development Fund for $20,000; and Telefilm Canada for $15,000 through its Development Program. AMI is the Canadian broadcaster, while levelFILM holds Canadian distribution rights.

Production for the doc is currently underway at Harrison Hot Springs, B.C. It is based on the play originally produced by Neworld Theatre, commissioned by Toronto’s Luminato and coproduced by the National Arts Centre, which was created in collaboration with award-winning playwrights McNeil, Youssef, Long, and Hille. The play featured an integrated professional cast of actors from Burnaby, B.C.’s Down Syndrome Research Foundation.

King Arthur’s Night is about the “powers of imagination and inclusion to change lives and worlds,” according to a news release.

The film is being made with the support of the Resort Municipality of Harrison Hot Springs and Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. King Arthur’s Night stars Amber Funk Barton, Andrew Gordon, Anton Lipovetsky, Barry Mirochnick, Billy Marchenski, Kerry Sandomirsky, Lucy McNulty, Matthew Tom-Wing, Nathan Kay, Tiffany King, Youssef, McNeil, and Hille.

Bolton said in a statement that the play’s casting of “neurodiverse performers in the highest status roles (the King; the Queen)” forced him to examine his privilege as an “able-bodied neurotypical, and made me think about the world in a new way.” He added that the play changed his life and he imagines “it changing the world, if only the world could see it.”

Youssef said in a statement that the audience for the film is limitless, adding that “theatre on this scale can only reach so many people and usually only those who live in major urban centres. King Arthur’s Night will now have a chance to be seen by people in communities large and small around the world.”

McNeil added that he’s excited to work with other people who have disabilities, “I’m looking forward to the singing and doing the lines. I’m finding the work a bit hard, but I can actually do it.”

Image courtesy of Opus 59 Films