Projects in genres: Disabilities

Synopsis

EARTH IS ALL MELODY weaves binaural field recordings, audio interviews and non-human polyphonies into a speculative soundscape of an ecological utopia. Drawing on discussions with environmental activists, disability rights campaigners, poets, urban planners and K-Pop musicians, this imagined future eco-city celebrates sustainability, accessibility and community through sound and multi-species connection.

Synopsis

TELL THEM YOU LOVE ME explores the extraordinary story of Anna Stubblefield, an esteemed university professor who becomes embroiled in a controversial affair with Derrick Johnson, a non-verbal man with cerebral palsy. Anna says she unlocked Derrick's mind from his body by teaching him to communicate using a keyboard. The relationship that followed would lead to a criminal trial that would challenge our perceptions of disability and the nature of consent. Through exclusive footage and interviews with those on both sides of the case, this feature documentary weaves a riveting and endlessly nuanced story about communication, race, and sex.

Synopsis

A teenager struggles to come to terms with his mental health while trying to cope with his studies, his peers and his family around him. A short film about a teenager's struggle with mental health.

Synopsis

Fran is a clean-cut middle-aged woman sat in a medical reception, waiting for her wife Nina to join her for an appointment. Despite her neat appearance, Fran's mind seems chaotic, causing intense emotional shifts that make her perception of reality increasingly surreal.

Synopsis

In a city devastated by a climate disaster, we follow Elliot as he uses his last ever wheelchair battery to meet his boyfriend Aaron for their first and final dance… BATTERY is a climate change thriller – one night of love and loss against a background of eco-ableism.

Synopsis

At Rodeston High School’s leaving do, Mo has one last chance to tell the girl of her dreams how she feels. Will she be able to tell her how she feels before it's too late with one eyebrow and an assortment of classmates who hinder more than help.

Synopsis

Wheelchair-user Angel joins an eco-commune in search of a more meaningful existence, though bumping into an old flame means she gets more than she bargained for on her quest for inner peace.

Synopsis

An unlikely creative partnership is formed between a young Deaf man and an embittered busker on the streets of Glasgow. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2023 - Short Film Competition - World premiere

Synopsis

Annie is surprised to find that her new carer happens to be a man, a manly man, a very manly man. This beautiful and funny piece takes a dark turn with devastating consequences when Annie is let down by the system that is meant to take care of her. Official Selection Reelabilities New York Film Festival 2024

Synopsis

BAFTA-winning filmmakers Bruce Fletcher and Peter Beard follow their close friend Otto Baxter, a man with Down Syndrome, through a year of change as he writes and directs his first film; an allegorical horror biopic set in Victorian London charting the life of a monster baby on the rocky path to escape incarceration and become his own master. Otto has recently experienced bereavement and family health scares that have forced him to think about mortality for the first time – his own and those closest to him. Otto has always turned to films to make sense of the world, and this moment is no exception. Through the writing and directing process, he finds the vocabulary to process his past and imagine his uncertain future. He tackles his demons head on, but always with a riotous sense of humour. Otto’s extraordinary upbringing has meant his life has always played out on camera to some extent. This rich archive will be blended with drama and present day footage in this intimate documentary, to tell the compelling story of Otto and his family, placing it firmly in the context of the UK’s evolving attitudes to disability over his lifetime. Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2023 - World premiere

Synopsis

The film features a group of women who reside in a care home in a small market town of Sefrou, Morocco. HER PLOT OF BLUE SKY is a record of one of the days in which the Amazigh women inhabitants of the care home were seen using the cameras. The images they create - of themselves and others - are playful yet harrowing, they point to the invisibility of women, non-hetero normative, neurodiverse, functionally diverse and elderly people in media more general. Woven into the women's narratives is Rachida Madani’s poem, Tales of a Severed Head.

Synopsis

Meet Special K, Peanut, Charlie, and the rest of The Brentford Penguins, a soccer team with a difference: all the young players have Down’s Syndrome. MIGHTY PENGUINS follows Coach Allan, the players, and families as they prepare to be the guard of honour for a Premier League match. Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2023 - World premiere