THE PILGRIMS: THE JOURNEY TO A NEW WORLD FOR AUTISM

A Documentary Narrated by Aidan Quinn AUTISM IS THE NUMBER ONE PEDIATRIC HEALTH CRISIS IN THE WORLD TODAY 
The first case of autism was diagnosed in California in 1943, 12 years after thimersol (mercury) appeared in childhood vaccines and three years after the use of pesticides in farming became routine in the U.S. The number grew to 6 in 10,000 by 1955. Today, the Center for Disease Control in Washington confirms that 1 in 150 births nationwide is autistic, roughly 30,000 new cases per year in the US today. In the State of California the number is 1 in 94. True numbers for the autism birthrate in the rest of the world is unquantified, though it is estimated the number is in the millions, as the medical community fails to diagnose until it’s too late for early intervention. Autism’s current rate quadruples every four years. It’s showing no signs of plateau, and has long ago eclipsed childhood cancers, cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, mental retardation and other childhood disorders combined, in prevalence. Autism is a world epidemic that no one can fully explain, and it’s shrouded in political secrecy. Experts call autism “the fire at the door”, an epidemic that can no longer be ignored. THE PILGRIMS is an epic love story: the journey of three children on the autism spectrum and the parents whose lives are devoted to the quest to help them. The families walk the transformative Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain, a 500 mile journey taken for millennia by the faithful in search of the miraculous. Against the backdrop of the Pyrennes, with several thousand other pilgrims from all over the world by their side, the children walk for an end to the epidemic, and for the beginning of total access to intervention for the coming tidal wave of children being born on the spectrum. Each family has faced the enormous barriers to getting early diagnosis and treatment for their children, a struggle that is commonplace in a world where treatment is legally excluded from medical insurance and government goes beyond legal limits to stop the parcelling out of life-saving therapy to this exploding population. Told in English and Spanish,”The Pilgrims” tells a world beset with autism that a number of its children have a real chance to improve functioning to the point of inclusion and usefulness in society, if parents will only refuse to take “no” for an answer when looking for a path to recovery. Told through the voices of pre-eminent scientists, politicians, doctors, parents, lawyers, grandparents, and seekers the world over, THE PILGRIMS reveals a world where our choices as a society have brought on autism through environmental toxicity, hasty medicine, and unquestioned industrial practices that are showing up as autism in millions of our newly born. It also leads the way to a world where children diagnosed with autism can succeed and prosper. The epidemic we face with autism demands a revolution if we are to survive the coming flood and see it abate. The Pilgrims are asking the world to join the revolution, and the children are showing us the way. file://localhost/webpilgrim-7
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More than 50 hours of footage have been shot for “The Pilgrims” over the past 18 months.  Principal photography in Spain begins June 2008.  Shot in breathtaking HD with 24 and 60p values for the richest cinematic viewing experience and inter-cut with powerful revelations from leading scientists, politicians and parents on the front line of autism.

 
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VIEW TRAILER IN ENGLISH

VERSION EN ESPANOL VA A DISPONIBLE PRONTO

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:  pilgrimpictures2008@yahoo.com  310-980-5204

 

RAYGUN PRODUCTIONS / PILGRIM PICTURES 
producers Aaron Ryder, Rodrigo Garcia, Amanda Copeland
director Amanda Copeland ©2008-2009 

LOS PEREGRINOS: EL VIAJE A UN MUNDO NUEVO PARA AUTISMO