Documentary film director John Paskievich, whose latest film Unspeakable will be screened at the 2007 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 26, was motivated to make the inspirational documentary about stuttering after returning to his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, following an emotionally draining publicity tour to discuss his work with journalists throughout Canada.

Paskievich was required to be continuously interviewed on live radio and television during the promotional tour. The filmmaker, who has struggled with a stuttering problem his entire life, felt humiliated following some of the interviews because he could not control his stuttering. Paskievich began wondering why there is such a stigma about showing someone stuttering on radio and television. The director points out that a variety of people including those who are in wheelchairs or are obese or who have different accents are seen and heard on radio and TV, but stutterers are not.

The filmmaker didn’t know how to seek help for his stuttering while growing up, and nobody came forward to offer him advice. Paskievich spent his entire high school and university career trying to hide his condition from his instructors by pretending to be ignorant or stupid in order to avoid answering questions in front of the class.

The director doubted at first that he could make a film about stuttering. He didn’t know where he would get accurate information on stuttering let alone how to find interview subjects to share their personal experiences on film. Turning to the Internet, he typed the word “stuttering” into a search engine and was astounded to find thousands of links to forums, chat rooms, self-help groups, and organizations dedicated to helping stutterers. 

In Unspeakable, viewers learn that although there is no known reason or cure for stuttering, there have been numerous theories about its cause throughout the 20th century. At the start of the last century, people erroneously believed stuttering was linked to parents correcting children whenever they stumbled over words while learning to speak or because some children are unable to be breast-fed. Doctors in the 1850s even began to remove triangular pieces from the base of stutterer’s tongues in an attempt to cure them of the condition. Other remedies included ointments, hot wine, spices, and small towels that were placed on stutterer’s tongues. This documentary also shows that fluency shaping therapy and stuttering modification are two of the most popular therapies to combat stuttering today. Fluency shaping requires the stutterer to speak very slowly and learn sounds, syllables and words with the goal of eventually speaking fluently in sentences.

Stuttering modification is designed to get stutterers not to conceal their condition from others. Stutterers learn to modify their stutter so that it becomes tolerated by people around them. Paskievich combined both therapies and started treating himself to see if the two approaches could work to combat his own stuttering.

Several interview segments with adults and teens who share their heartbreaking personal experiences are included in Paskievich’s documentary. Unspeakable successfully educates audiences about stuttering and empowers stutterers by trying to erase much of the fear, prejudice, and shame that surrounds this condition.

(Unspeakable will be screened on April 26 and April 29 as part of the 2007 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. For tickets, please call the festival box-office at 416.588.8362 or visit www.hotdocs.ca.)