Film Festival Focuses on People With Disabilities

French movie and documentary director Nils Tavernier will be at the Central Queens YM & YWHA this Thursday to screen and discuss his work about a young boy with cerebral palsy who persuades his father to do a triathlon with him. Meanwhile on Sunday morning, Charles Jones will head to the multi-purpose venue in Forest Hills to chat up his documentary about fathers of children with autism. Then on Monday, March 16th, Sophie Sartain will speak about her piece on her developmentally disabled aunt, 64, and her relationship with the elderly mother who had cared for her all her life.

These presentations are part of the seventh annual ReelAbilities Film Festival, which features award-winning international flicks about people with disabilities and their families. More information and another photo are on the jump page.

To run from March 12th through March 16th, ReelAbilities will feature narrative films and documentaries, followed by discussions with the filmmakers and other film personnel. The festival is part of a movement to bring awareness and appreciation to the experiences and stories of people living and thriving with disabilities. The schedule follows:

• Thursday, March 12th, noon, The Finishers. Julien has a great sense of humor, charm, and cerebral palsy. The 17-year-old challenges his athletic father to participate with him in an Ironman race in Nice, France. (Q&A after the film with director Nils Tavernier.)
• Sunday, March 15th, 10 am, Autistic Like Me: A Father’s Perspective. This is a candid portrait of the fathers and male caregivers of children with autism. (Q&A after the film with director Charles Jones.)
• Sunday, March 15th, 2 pm, Reel Encounters: An Afternoon of Short Films. In the five-minute “Q,” a man enters a pool area, gets out of his wheelchair, and goes for a swim. Midfield depicts an ordinary workday in the life of a stevedore, who executes his job with surprising grace and simplicity. But when Sunday comes, he is an altogether different man. In Hear This!, Tristan lives with his parents and younger sister in a small Dutch town. The ten-year-old’s favorite hobby is soccer, and his biggest wish is for the team to be coached by his father, who is deaf just like his mother. In On Beauty, Rick Guidotti, who is known for his photos of beautiful models, focuses his lens on women with physical defects.
• Monday, March 16th, noon, Mimi and Dona. This documentary is about Mimi, who has cared for her daughter, Dona, who has an intellectual disability, for 64 years. Now Mimi, 92, is facing the inevitable: she will not outlive her daughter and must find a home for her. (Q&A after the film with director Sophie Sartain.) Plus, Guest Room, a 14-minute film about a young woman with Down syndrome (Lauren Potter of the TV show Glee) who grapples with an unplanned pregnancy.

Photos: ReelAbilities Film Festival