HBO To Air New Film Tackling Disability Caregiving

HBO To Air New Film Tackling Disability Caregiving

A new documentary chronicling one woman’s experience as she assumes care of
her sister with an intellectual disability is set to premiere on HBO later
this month.

The documentary "Raising Renee" is scheduled to premiere on HBO2 Feb. 22 at
8 p.m. ET. (Courtesy: West City Films, Inc.)

The film, “Raising Renee,” follows Beverly McIver and her older sister,
Renee, over a six-year period. An acclaimed painter with a flourishing
career in the art world, McIver casually promised her mother that she would
take care of Renee, who functions at the level of a third-grader, when her
mother could not.

When McIver’s mother died in 2004, she followed through on her promise,
moving Renee from their mother’s home in North Carolina to live with her in
Arizona. Soon realizing that she needed help caring for Renee, McIver
ultimately returned to North Carolina — a place she’d vowed never to live
after leaving the segregation-filled environment of her youth.

The documentary, which premieres Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. ET on HBO2, follows the
two sisters as they adapt to their new reality and confront the opportunity
for Renee to live independently for the first time ever at age 50.

“Raising Renee” is just the latest film focusing on disability issues to
appear on HBO. In recent years, the cable channel aired Monica & David, a
documentary about the marriage of two young adults with Down syndrome, and
produced a biopic of autism self-advocate Temple Grandin.