DVD Reviews
from
Amazon.com Editorial:
"Writer/ Director
Alexandre Ginnsz was a 19-year-old
senior student at the New York
University Film
School when he wrote Duo, his
first film.
Duo is the moving story of
a boy in love with a violinist
who sets out to become her
accompanist. To lead his film,
Alexandre chose a 12-year-old
boy with Down syndrome,
his brother Stephane, who in
1995 became the first actor
with Down syndrome
to ever star in a movie.
Stephane rises to the occasion
delivering an astonishing performance
cheered by film
audiences worldwide, and showing
everyone that "special"
people can be gifted too! Co-starring
as the violinist is 12-year-old
Eden Riegel,
two-time Emmy Award nominee
and now the star of the popular
TV show "All My Children".
The chemistry between Stephane
and Eden is pure movie
magic. Duo is an ode to love,
innocence, and beauty. It is
a treat to your eyes, ears,
and soul, a rare gem that will
stay in your heart forever.
It was an official entry at
the 1996 Film
Academy Awards (Student Category),
finalist at the 1996 Chicago
International Children's film
Festival, winner of the 1996
Martin Scorsese Post Production
Film Award,
winner of the 1996 Warner Bros
Pictures Film
Production Award and winner
of the 1996 Wasserman Film
Award for Best Cinematography.
Alexandre was also nominated
in 1997 for the TASH Film
Award, "for best promoting
the inclusion of people with
severe disabilities in all
aspects of community life and
reaching a national audience".
The movie
Duo is now available on DVD
( DVD
pal, DVD ntsc, DVD secam) &
Video in limited edition.
The DVD
features Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround sound, French and
Spanish subtitles, bonus video
footage, extra features, and
information for people with
Down syndrome who want to get
involved in film
and the arts."
Viewers' Reviews
"Experience of a Life Time!"
October 24, 2004
by Chris T.
"This is one of the
most moving films
I have ever seen. Stephane
Ginnsz (who has Down syndrome)
gives a tour de force of a
performance, that shifts you
from tears to joy and back
again. Eden Riegel also gives
a stunningly beautiful performance.
Both did above and beyond in
their roles. The direction
is also dead on, along with
the script. This film
is an experience of a life
time."
"Beautiful
Movie!"
October 16, 2004
by natashka "Natasha"
(USA)
"This film
was a real treat! The two young
actors, Stephan Ginnsz and
Eden Riegel, are amazing. I
was especially impressed by
Stephan, a 12-year-old actor
who has Down syndrome. He gives
one of the most subtle, yet
powerful performances I have
ever seen on screen. The story
is really beautiful too, sometimes
funny, sometimes deep, always
unpredictable, and definitely
unforgettable!"
"Great
DVD!"
December 15, 2004
by ? (USA)
"Great DVD!"

"FRANCE
Magazine" Article
(May 1997 Issue)
by Aryelle MONANGE
"Alexandre Ginnsz
has written, produced, directed
and edited Duo, a film
twice awarded in the United
States and whose first role
is held by his little brother
who has Down syndrome.
Expatriate for ten years in
Washington, DC and New York,
this young Frenchman just presented
his film
at the Maison Francaise. The
movie theater
was packed. His adventure is
altogether an example of family
solidarity, where each one
gives his best to help Duo
penetrate the closed world
of movies.
A beautiful story.
In the Ginnsz family, there
is the big brother, Alexandre,
22-years-old hardly and already
movie director,
screenwriter, film
editor, film
and video
producer and film
score composer. There is also
his 13-year-old little brother
with Down syndrome, Stephane,
proud to have become become
actor for
Alexandre. Between the two,
an amazing complicity and much,
much love. The
father works at the World Bank,
descendant of a long line of
engineers and engineer himself.
The artistic dimension of the
boys undoubtedly comes from
the mother, Irene, cordial
and passionate, a long time
violin soloist at the National
Orchestre de Paris who just
got back to work (with joy).
it is also to help out her
son Alexandre. One could add
the grand-father, now also
movie
producer to help out... you
know the rest. In the heart
of this family, there is a
movie,
Duo, full of tenderness, emotions, glances
and notes of music, with freshness often seeked
by the best movie
directors. This movie
points the finger at what bothers
us and what we try to ignore.
Stephane Ginnsz plays the lead
role, a student in a special
education class of kids with
Down syndrome, who falls in
love with Joan (played by Eden
Riegel), a young violonist
(disconcerting of beauty and
grace) Her voice is as fragile
as the notes of music which
vibrate on the cords of her
violin. Joan has this in common
with Stephane: loneliness,
being different, more sensitive,
a dreamer, more timid. She
is also lost in her own world,
on the other side of the mirror.
To be able to communicate,
He draws a picture for her,
in exchange she teaches him
three small notes from music.
And Stephane starts to dream:
one day he will be jer accompanist.
When Alexandre Ginnsz imagine
the script of his movie,
he was not even 20 yet. In
third year of film
school at New York University,
his these was to be no longer
than 15 minutes. Alexandre
decided to make it a little
longer (which will cost him
to be disqualified from the
school festival): his close
relatives are ready to help
him. The story is actually
like the story of his family.
"I remember Stephane.
my little brother very alone",
remembers Alexandre.
As for
Stephane, the little brother
with Down syndrome, he trained
for a long time before the
shoot. "At the beginning,
I simply wanted to know if
he could follow the directives.
Progressively, I pushed him
to see if he could do more,
and that was often the case...
", explains Alexandre,
obviously in admiration. The
result is striking with accuracy
and reserve: Stephane can move
us, but he can also make us
laugh.
The work in this film
is colossal. The family has
to scrape the drawers to finance
it (with the help of several
grants). More than 300 young
actresses auditioned for the
role of Joan. The film
shoot, which took 10 working
days, 20 hours daily, took
place in part in the family
house in Washington, for economical
reasons. Certain scenes in
the movie
were shot at the french international
high school in Bethesda, at
Tilden Middle school and even
at the French Embass, in the
main movie
theater.
Duo received the Martin Scorcese
Film Award
and Warner Brothers Pictures
Film Production
Award... Not frequent for a
young French film
maker in the United States.
Success however did not go
to Alexandre Ginnsz's head.
He is one of those whose reserve
and modesty make sympathetic
and moving.
Gently, without haste, he is
tracing his road. The screenplay
of his next movie
is already written. In one
month, encouraged by true successes,
he will be flying towards Los
Angeles to edit another movie,
with
his script
under the arm of course. This
is how all the great film
makers started... "