Within disability often lies great ability.
Sidney local Daniel Brimacombe, 26, has faced many challenges surrounding his diagnosis of Autism and Tourrette Syndrome; struggles that manifest in socializing, vocal and motor tics, as well as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
“For Autism I’ve been working really hard to become more social with people over the last year,” says Brimacombe. “I still catch myself not making eye contact with people or just trouble with talking to people and keeping conversations.”
Where Brimacombe struggles with people skills, he makes up for with animals. He graduated from college with a diploma in animal care in 2010, which led to working with animals in the Caribbean for the five years following.
“We visited there a few times and I saw that the local SPCA was in a really run-down state. There were two old ladies there that were picking the ticks out of a puppy by hand, that’s all they had,” Brimacombe says. “That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to move down there, to help them out.”
So, along with his parents, Brimacombe moved to Tobago his graduating year. He started volunteering at the animal shelter he noticed years before, assisting the veterinarian with spay and neuters.
Through this experience he met a local couple who ran a therapeutic horse community and he began volunteering there.
Having no previous experience with horses, Brimacombe developed a temperamental connection with Princess Julie, a five-year-old Thoroughbred, orange in colour with white markings.
“She definitely has the princess attitude. She was very testy to newcomers and she was not the nicest to me at first. She was stubborn,” Brimacombe says as he points to the large, circular scars on his arms left by the horse.
It wasn’t until the horse fell from a cliff, becoming battered and wounded, that Brimacombe made a deeper connection with the animal. It was also around this time that he began filmmaking.
Brimacombe’s first short film, Princess Julie, will be playing at the Star Cinema in Sidney May 12 to 18. It will be shown immediately prior to the afternoon matinée showings of the movie Their Finest. Without giving too much away, the nine-minute documentary chronicles the seven-hour rescue mission of the horse and the year following her recovery.
“When the horse was in intensive care I would visit her. It gave me a chance to bond with her. I would play soothing music for her and now she’s a little nicer to me,” Brimacombe says. “When it was a week or two (into the recovery), I thought this is something. People should know about this.”
While Princess Julie was going through recovery therapy, Brimacombe was also going through his own of sorts.
“Being Autistic I was kind of a loner and felt better company in animals than people. They don’t judge you. I got bullied in school … ,” says Brimacombe.
The filmmaking process has also allowed Brimacombe to harness some of the struggles he deals with on a daily basis.
“The OCD, that makes me a perfectionist. I’m not satisfied with something until I think it’s perfect, to my standards … working on the Princess Julie film, it took a long time to do,” Brimacombe says. “
The filming, editing and directing is all me. I definitely know why film crews are so big and why there are so many names in the credits. It’s a big job.”
In fact, Brimacombe even returned to Tobago at the beginning of last year to film missing shots. It took him around two-and-a-half years to complete and it was finished in June 2016.
Brimacombe will be on hand to answer questions at both the Saturday and Thursday afternoon showings.
Upcoming photography exhibit
In addition to filmmaking, Brimacombe has an interest in photography, especially in capturing the different phases of the sun and moon over the Sidney waterfront. Brimacombe’s recent photography will be exhibited at the ArtSea Gallery at Tulista Park on May 15 to 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The exhibit, conceived by Margo Styan, will also feature work from four other distinctive artists.
