Hello friends: ”Shameless: The Art of Disability” is now available to view (free) at the National Film Board of Canada website! This iconic feature-length documentary about disability and creativity is a National Film Board of Canada production, directed by the noted documentarian, Bonnie Klein and released in 2008. It focuses on the stories and creative processes of four artistic people with disabilities, including myself, Persimmon Blackbridge, Catherine Frazee and Geoff McMurchy (and of course Bonnie herself). Enjoy!
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Quoting the NFB.ca film synopsis:
Art and activism are the starting point for a funny and intimate portrait of five surprising individuals with diverse disabilities. Packed with humour and raw energy, this film follows the gang of five from B.C. to Nova Scotia as they create and present their own images of their disabilities.
The Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival, happening as we speak in Toronto, explores cinematic representations of mental health and addiction. Film and video programs are followed by post-screening panel discussions with people who receive mental health and addiction services, as well as writers, directors, actors, health care professionals and academics.
A movie trailer spoofing horror films, being shown in theaters in Britain and online, was launched a couple months ago to challenge the stigma surrounding schizophrenia. The segment is part of the “Time to Change” campaign run by British mental health charities Mind and Rethink, and funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief.
The films have been launched nationwide to coincide with a poll by research firm YouGov, which reveals more than a third of people believe schizophrenics are violent.
Oh yes, did we forget to mention that the campaign stars none other than…MR. STUART BAKER-BROWN!!!
According to beverlyneroproductions.com, the upcoming biopic about Donna Williams’ life—titled “Nobody Nowhere,” based on Donna’s international best-selling autobiography of the same name—is officially “in development”!!!
…The winning filmmaker will be awarded the Amazing Grace Award for Best Short Film, a $1,500 cash prize, and flown to Toronto to present his/her film at the Breast Fest Film Festival, November 20-22, 2009.
Quoting Amy Cohen Efron’s recent complaint letter, titled Good Bye and Good Riddance Netflix!:
Dear Netflix, I canceled my subscription with you after being a loyal customer for 5 years today. I picked the reasons why I canceled today online, but I do want to emphasize with you about the main reason why I left you today. You did not provide online streaming captions for the Wizard of Oz. We tried to tell you many times for two years, but you released the special feature today without captions. I, among with other 30 million people felt left out. You want me to rent a DVD to watch Wizard of Oz. You are discriminating me from others. You are excluding me. I have high speed internet service, with fast computer and why cannot I enjoy movies as other people are enjoying the Wizard of Oz? Good bye and good riddance, Amy Cohen Efron
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Quoting Karen Putz, also a renowned deaf blogger, taking to her official Twitter account:
I’m boycotting because no captions for Wizard of Oz means 30 Mil Deaf and hard of hearing ppl are shut out
The 2009 Projections Film Forum “presents feature films, documentaries and shorts written, produced, directed or starring artists with disabilities.”
Judging by their official blurbs, this year’s selections are truly extraordinary.
So if you’re free tonight (Thursday, Oct. 8th) and/or this coming Saturday (Oct. 10th), definitely head down to Innis Town Hall in Toronto. An event not to be missed!!
dan habib supports his son, samuel habib, during a t-ball game in concord, nh. samuel uses a "bronco" all-terrain walker to hit and get around the bases. (photo credit: lori duff/concord monitor)
Before his son Samuel was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, photojournalist Dan Habib rarely thought about the inclusion of people with disabilities. Now he thinks about inclusion every day. His award winning documentary film, “Including Samuel,” chronicles the Habib family’s efforts to include Samuel in every facet of their lives. The film honestly portrays his family’s hopes and struggles as well as the experiences of four other individuals with disabilities and their families. Currently airing on Public TV nationwide, “Including Samuel” is his very personal effort to inspire the public—especially anyone connected to education—to talk about inclusion in a more informed and innovative way.
Samuel’s journey is the central thread through the film, and I wanted viewers to learn a lot about him beyond the fact that he has a disability: He wrestles with his brother. He loves t-ball. He wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. Yet Samuel is only nine, and including him will likely become more and more challenging as he grows up. So I also made this film to learn from the experiences of other people with disabilities who can look back on the choices they and their parents have made, and to see how these choices have shaped their lives.
When I was a teenager I fell in love with photography . . . The 57th Street galleries and the International Center of Photography were my places of worship. Work by great photographers filled the walls—Andre Kertsz, Susan Meiseles, Bruce Davidson, Josef Koudelka—there were dozens and dozens of exhibits every time I went to the city and I lapped it all up . . . In 1992 I took a course at the Maine Photo Workshop with Eugene Richards that changed the direction of my career, and led me to pursue longer documentary projects . . . As I’ve gotten older my heroes are not photographers now as much as they are great documentarians, activists and change agents: Studs Terkel. Martin Luther King. Helen Keller. Lincoln. Rosa Parks. FDR. Obama. The many, many great disability rights leaders working right now for change. And it may sound corny, but my wife and two boys inspire me more than anyone else living or dead.
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“Including Samuel” will air on PBS World on October 9. (See listings here). Watch a 12-minute clip from the film:
