Buried Under Years of Dust

For the first 25 years of her life, Emily Grodin, a minimally speaking autistic woman in Los Angeles, scarcely communicated. Her parents sensed her intelligence and tried numerous methods of therapy to help her express herself, to no avail. As she grew up, Emily had an increasing number of emotional and physical outbursts. After she lashed out at a caregiver, the police were summoned. Seeking alternatives, Emily’s parents turned to a controversial method of assisted-typing that had been dismissed for decades. In a turn of events, she began to express herself—not in single words, but in sentences and paragraphs, through essays and poetry. This changed her and her family’s lives.

I Have Been Buried Under Years of Dust is based on the memoir she wrote with her mother, Valerie. The film depicts Emily’s transformation in her own words, as well as through interviews, contemporary footage, and reenactments. Emily describes her current life as a student, a journalist, and an author. She revisits her childhood while watching home movies with her parents, and she explains how her inner reality often collided with people’s perceptions. Emily’s story is one of transformation, mistakes, talent, and familial love.