Deej
Directed by Robert Rooy
DJ Savarese (“Deej”) finds comfort in words, as expressed by his poetry, spoken through a text-to- voice synthesizer. Adopted by a loving and supportive family, Deej navigates the college admissions process as a young adult on the autism spectrum, while confronting obstacles to inclusion.
Filmmaker Bio
Robert Rooy is an independent filmmaker who has worked in more than twenty countries, creating media with and for international development, human rights and environmental organizations. His encounter with Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, led to producing and directing To Our Credit, a two-part PBS series that aired in 1998. In addition, he has worked as an assistant director on more than forty films, including Lonesome Dove, Honeymoon in Vegas, Minority Report and The West Wing. He holds an MFA degree from Yale School of Drama, a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Calvin College, and a National MediaMaker Fellowship from the Bay Area Video Coalition.