Giffords documentary comes as gun debates stay center stage

In the two years documentary filmmakers shadowed former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, the most jarring moment for them was in the kitchen of her Tucson, Arizona, home.

As cameras were rolling, she and her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly, nonchalantly opened the freezer. Kelly grabbed a plastic container and revealed it holds the piece of Giffords' skull that had to be removed after she was shot.

“This stays in here next to the empanadas and the sliced mango,” Kelly said.

Giffords' response was “Será, será,” referencing the song “Que sera, sera” or “What will be, will be.”

The scene from the film is emblematic of Giffords' openness to reflect on but not languish in the 2011 shooting that changed her life. That desire is what led her to allow cameras into her life for two years — all as a pandemic was progressing.

“For me it has been really important to move ahead, to not look back,” Giffords told The Associated Press while in Los Angeles to promote the film. “I hope others are inspired to keep moving forward no matter what.”

From the filmmakers behind Academy Award-nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary “RBG,” the film “Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down” is partly an intimate look at Giffords' recovery after the January 2011 shooting that left six people dead and 13 others wounded outside a Tucson supermarket. But the movie, which arrives in theaters July 15, is also an insider view of how she and Kelly navigated gun control campaigns and later a Senate campaign. The movie could not be any timelier with gun reform being debated in government, schools and the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It’s just a fascinating story about how Gabby came back from an injury that so many people just don’t even survive,” said Betsy West, a co-director....