The rainman twins.

Date:
2008
  • Videos

About this work

Description

Flo and Kay are the only female identical twin autistic savants in the world - they can remember an extraordinary amount of details including dates, record names and even what they have eaten on any given day over the last 30 years. News anchor and former DJ Dave Wagner has been following their lives and filming them for 13 years - his footage makes up much of this documentary. Their autism is tested by savant expert Darold Treffert and Nancy Isenberg. The girls childhood was highly traumatic, their mother never accepted them and tried to kill them when they were young, a fact they remember in detail. Following their parents' death they went to live with their sister Jane where they continued to watch the television for hours every day, making colour charts of clothes worn by their favourite celebrities. They became particularly obsessed with celebrity presenter Dick Clark who hosted a programme called The 100 000 Dollar Pyramid; they watched the show and charted every sound, question and answer and every comment Dick Clark made, turning their bedroom into a shrine to him. Their need for regularity and repetition was sorely tested however when Dick Clark's show was taken off air and when he suffered a stroke. Soon after this their sister Jane died suddenly of a heart attack and they were forced to re-locate to their brother's house. The documentary shows how fragile the sisters' lives are and provides a fascinating insight into their world.

Publication/Creation

UK : Five, 2008.

Physical description

1 DVD (60 min.) : sound, color.

Notes

Broadcast on 23 July, 2008

Copyright note

Five

Type/Technique

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    4122D

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