Subject of Oscar-nominated
'Murderball' to give campus address

Quadriplegic rugby star Mark Zupan, whose life was featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball, will share his life experiences with the NC State campus community on Wednesday, April 26.

Zupan will provide “An Insider’s Look at Murderball,” following a screening of the documentary, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Campus Cinema located in Witherspoon Student Center.

The documentary and Zupan’s speech are both free and open to the public. However, donations will be accepted that will go toward spinal-cord injury research.

Murderball follows Zupan and his U.S. quadriplegic rugby team’s journey to the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The film’s title reflects the brutality of quadriplegic rugby, a sport in which athletes in custom wheelchairs combine the finesse of soccer with bone-jarring collisions of a demolition derby.

Zupan, who was confined to a wheelchair after an automobile accident at age 18, is a well-known quadriplegic rugby player who has garnered additional acclaim for his role in Murderball. He speaks out against stereotypes associated with people with spinal-cord injuries.

Murderball won the Documentary Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Posted April 7, 2006

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