ReelAbilities Film Festival
Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 10:41 a.m.Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central LibraryBenning/Dorothy I. Height LibraryCleveland Park LibraryShaw/Watha T. Daniel LibraryCenter for Accessibility
ReelAbilities Film Festival
Films by and about people with disabilities
DC Public Library proudly screens four films from the Fourth Annual ReelAbilities Film Festival. Watch entertaining and evocative films that will challenge concepts and/or assumptions about disability, regardless of race, religion, or geography.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
Director: Rita Kotzia, 76 minutes, Documentary, USA, English After screening discussion with Dr. Eleanor Vincent of Pathway Homes.
When Ross McKenzie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he was told he would have to take lithium. Bipolarized follows Ross McKenzie as he embarks on a journey to treat his symptoms through alternative treatments and dig up the root cause of his mental breakdown.
Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library
Directed by Rita Kotzia, 83 minutes, Documentary, USA, English
Lott Industries in Toledo, Ohio, a small car parts manufacturer staffed by people with developmental disabilities, struggles to reinvent itself after the auto crisis hits. For the workers, the stakes are even higher since their jobs are a refuge, not only from the impoverishment that affects the majority of America's disabled, but from social isolation.
Click to watch the Whole Lott More trailer.
Dorothy I. Height/Benning Road Library
Directed by Lena Koppel, 91 minutes, Sweden, Swedish and English subtitles
When a theatre group of people with intellectual disabilities decides to shoot a film about their lives, Peter calls his old friend Max, a successful, yet lonely and depressed, NYC-based cinematographer. When Max arrives he realizes that the documentary he has promised to shoot is about people with disabilities and he is forced to confront his own prejudices.
Click to watch the It's All About Friends trailer.
Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library
Directed by Gerardine Wurzburg, 90 minutes, USA, English
Two men with autism -- an accomplished artist and an activist -- embark on a global quest to change attitudes about autism and intelligence. Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette travel to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland, dissecting, challenging, and reshaping public conceptions along the way.
Click to watch the Wretches and Jabberers trailer.
Bipolarized
Monday, April 27, 6 p.m.Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
Director: Rita Kotzia, 76 minutes, Documentary, USA, English After screening discussion with Dr. Eleanor Vincent of Pathway Homes.
When Ross McKenzie was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he was told he would have to take lithium. Bipolarized follows Ross McKenzie as he embarks on a journey to treat his symptoms through alternative treatments and dig up the root cause of his mental breakdown.
A Whole Lott More
Tuesday, April 28, 6 p.m.Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library
Directed by Rita Kotzia, 83 minutes, Documentary, USA, English
Lott Industries in Toledo, Ohio, a small car parts manufacturer staffed by people with developmental disabilities, struggles to reinvent itself after the auto crisis hits. For the workers, the stakes are even higher since their jobs are a refuge, not only from the impoverishment that affects the majority of America's disabled, but from social isolation.
Click to watch the Whole Lott More trailer.
It’s All About Friends
Thursday, April 30, 6 p.m.Dorothy I. Height/Benning Road Library
Directed by Lena Koppel, 91 minutes, Sweden, Swedish and English subtitles
When a theatre group of people with intellectual disabilities decides to shoot a film about their lives, Peter calls his old friend Max, a successful, yet lonely and depressed, NYC-based cinematographer. When Max arrives he realizes that the documentary he has promised to shoot is about people with disabilities and he is forced to confront his own prejudices.
Click to watch the It's All About Friends trailer.
Wretches and Jabberers
Saturday, May 2, 2 p.m.Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library
Directed by Gerardine Wurzburg, 90 minutes, USA, English
Two men with autism -- an accomplished artist and an activist -- embark on a global quest to change attitudes about autism and intelligence. Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette travel to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland, dissecting, challenging, and reshaping public conceptions along the way.
Click to watch the Wretches and Jabberers trailer.