Event

Imagine a world with Complete Accessibility. MARK: A CALL TO ACTION is the story of Dr. Mark Bookman, a severely disabled Pennsylvania-born American who later resided in Tokyo full-time, becoming one of Japan's leading experts on accessibility and a policy consultant to governments and major corporations around the world.

2024, 1hr 27min

Jolyon Thomas (Religious Studies) will be hosting a post-screening conversation with Dr. Paul Bookman (Mark's father) and Director Ron Small.

Register here

Dr. Paul K. Bookman, the father of Dr. Mark and Rachel Bookman, is a dentist practicing in the Philadelphia suburb of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania since 1987. He is a graduate of Tulane University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. Paul is beloved by his patients and is consistently voted “one of the Best Dentists” by Main Line Today Magazine and Philadelphia Magazine.

Prior to the passing of his son in December of 2022, and his daughter in July of 2024, Dr. Bookman was an avid outdoor enthusiast. He spent most of his free time bicycling, skiing, scuba diving, and taking care of his two dogs with his wife Dr. Wasna Dabbagh. Although he still enjoys these activities, he now devotes most of his energies to preserving the legacy and ideals of The GLIDE Fund of the Mark Bookman Foundation. Created by Mark, GLIDE stands for Global Leaders in International Disability Education. 

As the father of two chronically ill and disabled children, Paul has spent the better part of 30 years dealing with hospitals, life threatening illnesses, and obstacles trying to make life easier for his two affected children. With the formation of the Foundation, he is now embarking on a new phase of his life. He plans to carry on the disability advocacy work of his son and daughter by making sure that the GLIDE Fund of the Mark Bookman Foundation grows internationally and provides financial assistance to disabled students interested in education exchange experiences to foster an inclusive society in which anyone can led an independent and self-determined life.

Ron Small began his media career in New Orleans during his pre-med studies at Tulane University, producing, directing and voicing nearly 1000 local, regional and national TV and radio commercials before moving to Los Angeles for his real education. From these auspicious beginnings came a career spanning film, television, radio, infomercials, corporate videos, entertainment programs, podcasts and documentaries throughout the world. 

Career highlights include: 

• Opened the Faux Pas Comedy Club in New Orleans featuring stand-up and improv. His original headliner was a then-unknown Ellen DeGeneres.
• Formed the Holocaust Education Film Foundation to preserve the stories of Holocaust Survivors.
• In 2021 was awarded a Best Director Emmy for the National PBS release “I Danced for the Angel of Death,” featuring famed Survivor, Psychologist and author of the New York Times bestseller “The Choice, Dr. Edith Eva Eger.”
• Released in 2024, Produced, Directed, Wrote and Narrated “Mark – A Call to Action,” highlighting global Disability Advocate Dr. Mark Bookman,” a Fulbright Scholar and himself a fully-disabled individual who overcame insurmountable odds to earn a PhD from University of Pennsylvania, speak fluent Japanese and become a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo. 

Jolyon Thomas researches religion in Japan and the United States. His first book, Drawing on Tradition: Manga, Anime, and Religion in Contemporary Japan, appeared from University of Hawai`i Press in 2012. His 2019 University of Chicago Press monograph, Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan, received an Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion (Analytical-Descriptive Studies) from the American Academy of Religion in 2020. His third book, Difficult Subjects: Religion and the Politics of Public Schooling in Japan and the United States, is under contract with University of Chicago Press. Thomas is also co-authoring a "trigraph," tentatively titled Animating Action, with Yulia Frumer and Aike Rots. With Matthew McMullen, he has recently co-edited The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions, forthcoming from University of Hawai‘i Press in 2024.