Realabilities festival focuses on disability themed films

From The New York Times Sept. 14:

Judith Scott had Down syndrome, was deaf and did not speak. After being institutionalized from the age of 7 until she was 42, Ms. Scott was released to the custody of her twin sister, who enrolled her in a community-based arts program for people with disabilities.

By the time Ms. Scott died, in 2005, she had achieved worldwide recognition for her colorful fiber sculptures. Now she is the focus of the 2006 documentary “Outsider: The Life and Art of Judith Scott,” one of seven films that will be shown as part of Realabilities: The First Annual NY Disabilities Film Festival, from Sept. 21 to 23.

Premiering in the week before National Disability Awareness Month, “Realabilities” aims to promote awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with various disabilities.

The film festival, which is being presented by the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan and supported by UJA-Federation of New York, includes feature, documentary and short films that will be shown at 14 locations throughout the New York area, including the J.C.C. on the Hudson in Tarrytown, the J.C.C. of Mid-Westchester in Scarsdale and the Rosenthal J.C.C. of Northern Westchester in Pleasantville. (Admission is $10 per film; go to http://www.realabilities.org/ for times and locations.) Other local supporting partners include Westchester Jewish Community Services, the Board of Jewish Education Westchester Center, and the group Matan.

“The J.C.C.’s and our partnering agencies jumped at the opportunity to be involved because we are all serving a fairly significant population of families and individuals that run the gamut from people with physical disabilities to those who are on the autism spectrum or have attention deficit disorder,” said Frank Hassid, executive director of the J.C.C. on the Hudson.

In addition to drawing audiences affected by disabilities, the J.C.C.’s want to reach the broader Westchester community.

“We want to enlighten people that they don’t have to be afraid when somebody who’s got cerebral palsy walks into their building or comes in with a wheelchair,” Mr. Hassid said. “There’s really an opportunity to create an open door where you can look beyond the disabilities and start to see people for who they are and what skills they have.”

Among the other films to be shown in Westchester are “Ben X” (2007), a drama from Belgium about an autistic boy who hides from the harsh reality of being bullied in school by escaping to his favorite online computer game (pictured above); the American film “War Eagle, Arkansas” (2007), the story of two boyhood pals, Enoch
Cass, a star pitcher with a debilitating stutter, and Samuel (Wheels) Macon, his best friend, who has cerebral palsy; and “Stubborn and Spite” (2007), a three-minute short from the United Kingdom about the mayhem that ensues when two drivers with disabilities fight over who should get the last handicapped parking spot.

Many of the films will be followed by discussions led by people with disabilities or experts in the field. Among those scheduled to speak in Westchester are Graham Gordy, the screenwriter, and Vincent Insalaco, the executive producer, of “War Eagle, Arkansas”; Nic Balthazar, the director and screenwriter of “Ben X”; representatives from the State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities and the organization Autism Speaks; and Jewish Community Center staff members.

“There was a need to make this a very human kind of experience,” Mr. Hassid said. “A forum for discussion adds a terrific layer to this in the sense that people, now on a personal level, can connect to the stories that are being told through these movies.”