We are moving stories

“I love the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. In a world where gender and racial bias run rampant, the film challenge forces filmmakers and audiences to review and expand their definition of diversity. Representation matters and the film challenge provides a platform that puts everyone on equal footing gives voice to those who often go ignored. This is the second year that I’ve participated in the film challenge. The first year, I was drawn to the challenge thanks to my nephew who is on the autism spectrum. This year, my focus shifted to physical disabilities in honor of my mother who’s mobility was restricted following a car accident 20 years ago.”

“The Rebuilt Minds team made this short film for the three days Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, where the genre this year was Sci-Fi. Our mission is to embrace diversity and explore intersectionality, so naturally, this competition felt perfect for us to enter to create a meaningful yet entertaining film. As the first production of our film company, it also gave us the opportunity to really put our skills to use for a cause that we can all support - the awareness of content that includes people with disabilities. Personally, as a filmmaker with a disability, Easterseals was more than a challenge, it was a celebration of the skills and talent that so many undiscovered people with disabilities have.”

“A Battling Body is a musical and poetic way to tackle this difficult subject. No medical references, only the language of a body. It only speaks about the sensation, it is a one minute metaphor for a whole life beaten by MS. Everybody is concerned, it can happen to anybody, anytime, we need to focus on it and struggle against it.”

“It is a story waiting to happen - and the subjects of the documentary wanted their story heard to let others know that they are not alone. They insisted on honesty in the hope that an audience would connect with who they are, the impact of degenerative disease and what “home” really means.”

“I was looking for an idea to make a sign language poetry film. I wrote and performed a poem called Deaf Brown Gurl, which I had performed at a few festivals in St. Louis, Washington DC and San Francisco. People told me they really loved it and that the poem was powerful. So I thought it was the perfect poem to use for a short film and I wanted to experiment with aesthetics of storytelling and cinematography.”

“I’m not a musician, comedian, or actor, nor am I Deaf, so I let the subjects of the film talk about their personal journeys. However, I think no matter who you are, how you define yourself, or where you are in life, everyone wants to be and feel included - whether at home, work, school, or in their own community and the world at large.”

“This film offers a unique glimpse into the Deaf community, which can be hard to access if you are Hearing and don’t understand the variances between Hearing and Deaf cultures. If you like football, are interested in watching people overcome stigmas about disabilities, and like a good love story then you will enjoy this film.”

“I always respect audiences, I really love to hear from them. If they do not watch my films and send feed back I never promote them. I make my film and let it start a conversation. It will find the way by itself, my characters start to talk and touch audiences. I just sit and watch.”

“Well, it’s about hearing loss and love. I think most of us have been in love and those of us lucky enough to have our hearing can only imagine the challenges deaf people face in an oral world. I hope the film makes people think twice about their hearing and shines a light on what it’s like to be deaf or hard of hearing.”

“In this film, Black characters get the same happy narrative usually reserved for other cultures. In Charlie and the Hunt, culture and deafness are never directly mentioned but are championed by the sense of family and exploration.”

“To tell the story of Martien, a deaf trade employee who suffered a robbery turning into a comic situation, each with his own contradictions, I concentrated the action of my film in a scene set within a shop interior, gas station, with singular characters all having a “default” or handicap. I attacked through what the characters live through, to the problems they encounter everyday and about which I want to change the mentalities.”

“I am excited to bridge the gap between audiences who simply want a fun, entertaining, enlightening film, and the disability community. I like to describe these projects (both the short film, Learning to Drive and the forthcoming feature, River) as fun movies that ‘just happen’ to star someone with Down syndrome.”

“t’s a story about people with Down Syndrome who want to develop their talents and potential and the gifted people, including an amazing Piedmont chef, in Italy, who are making their dreams come true. And it’s got all the ingredients that get me excited – food – as a vehicle for story telling and some truly wonderful characters. In a world of gloom and doom, it’s a feel-good story and I think it’s got all the ingredients for a great film.”

“I think one of the biggest challenges for any parent of a child who’s on a unique developmental path is that it’s impossible to anticipate where they’ll be on that path next year, let along next week. One of the reasons I made this film is that I thought it would be helpful to show parents that there could be light at the end of the tunnel.”

“For a filmmaker like me who probably teeters on ADHD at times, this film was also good for me technically and mentally. Shooting this required me to really be patient and focus in on little things, really little moments.”

“I suffer from widespread chronic pain and fatigue that began after a head injury several years ago. I wanted to experiment and see if my chronic pain would lessen if I released memories and feelings that I had repressed/silenced due to emotional pain, shame, or humiliation. I was a dancer before the injury, so the series also began as a way to access dance/movement/the body outside of live performance.”

“There is no easy way to get what you think you will with the film. I do movies to make people think, make people reflect and react to the story I show. So I would be very happy to have that impact that makes the audience discuss these topics in the film. I think concerns we have as a society, first, we have to make them big and public, then face them bravely, then we can have a solution in the end. I hope we will contribute a bit to this.”

“There are a lot of people out there that go through various psychological disorders due to many reasons like family issues, relationships and work and some of these stories go unheard. This film takes you on this journey and tries to unravel the mysteries of the human mind and why people do things for a reason or just for pure pleasure or obsessions.”

“You should watch it to be transported. This is as close to being part of a high-tech agricultural startup and social experiment as many of us will ever get. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking. It’s set in a jaw-dropping location with extreme weather and seasonal demand. The film will expose you to nuanced portraits of people with disabilities. I believe it will challenge your perceptions about abilities, the benefits of meaningful employment and the power of inclusion.”

“This film is about a woman who tends to make efforts confidently in a traditional society in spite of her blindness; she is motivated and has a passion for life. She loves to have her own family, and more importantly, she has a social responsibility and concern to have a presence in society. Thus, she studies and works in a de-addiction camp.”

“I am hoping to gain more exposure for my memoir, but, more importantly, I want to raise awareness around the seriousness of discrimination and abuse against girls and women with disabilities and those who are marginalized, for various reasons. It’s my goal to send the message that standing up for one’s convictions is vastly important in a culture of narrow definitions and standards of normalcy, in the clasp of suffocating pressure to conform and what I perceive is a decline in compassion and awareness for those who aren’t “like us”.”

“I think in broad terms society can tend to focus more on what a person with a disability can’t do, than what they can. The beauty of this campaign is that it carries with it such a powerful and positive message; quite simply that everyone has their own unique talents and abilities and that celebrating and recognising those skills and abilities needs to be the focus above all else. Everyone has the capacity and potential to do great things in this world, and this fact needs to apply to people of all abilities.”

“Why is there always one minority group that is consistently left out of diversity conversations, despite the fact that it is one of the largest, with 56 million Americans, and crosses the boundaries of every other minority boundary: race, ethnicity, religion, and socio-economic status?”

“Because you don’t know much or perhaps haven’t even heard of acquired and/or invisible disabilities and wonder what on Earth that’s all about. ”

“I am hoping to share a personal disability story with folks, so they know that these stories exist. It also is quite affirming when other disabled folks see themselves represented in spaces, as a community, it is often excluded.”