Monica & David

American director Ali Codina made a film about the first year of marriage of her cousin Monica and her husband David: an adult couple with Down's syndrome. Monica and David starts just before the wedding, and follows the couple from that point up to the celebratory dinner to mark their first anniversary. A lot happens during this year; they move house, and it turns out that David is diabetic. Codina films the day-to-day goings on in fly-on-the-wall style, including interviews with family members that show what a crucial role the two broad-minded mothers play in Monica and David's lives. Both of their biological fathers abandoned their wives and children within a year of their birth. When Monica and David go to live with Monica's mother in a new apartment on the Florida coast, we see how heavy a burden caring for them is for her. From its fairytale beginning, the film increasingly focuses in on humdrum everyday reality: from the importance of routine to the dilemmas experienced by close family members, who tend to be overprotective. Much to their surprise, it turns out that David is more than capable of measuring his own blood sugar level. The next step is to find jobs for the couple. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)