Documentaries about disability
a list of documentaries which explore disability, in no particular order.
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23 titles
- DirectorHeath CozensShintaro is a Tokyo janitor who moonlights as a pro wrestler in an underground league called Doglegs. He's had 20 glorious years in the ring but now he's getting old and wants to pursue his regular-Joe dream: success at work, and hopefully, settling down with his secret dream-girl, but Kitajima, the group's volunteer organizer, has other plans. Shintaro's oldest rival, 'Antithesis' Kitajima, is billed as "the man who has beaten up the disabled for twenty years". He believes that sparing the kid gloves is a sign of respect. Shintaro challenges Kitajima for one last fight. Kitajima accepts, on one condition: that the winner, and only the winner, can retire - no easy feat considering how far back Shintaro's losing streak against Kitajima stretches. Meanwhile, another Doglegs regular is facing his own challenge. L'Amant ('the Lover') has severe cerebral palsy and near-total paralysis. He spends his days self-medicating with alcohol despite the protestations of his able-bodied wife and son. But in Doglegs, he's a showy, cross-dressing legend. He lives for Doglegs - and wants to die fighting, but right now, the bottle has the upper hand. And then there's the man pouring his drinks: his carer, Yuki Nakajima. Nakajima looks normal, but the scars on his body hint at self-mutilation. He is clinically depressed. He, too, gets in the ring - to get recognition for his invisible condition. Nakajima wants to win over his skeptical peers... but clinical depression and wrestling can be a volatile mix. Doglegs is an emotional and thrilling experience that poses deeper questions about autonomy and our place in the world. As the climatic match between Shintaro and his mentor draws nearer, Doglegs challenges the audience to ask: what is disability...and who gets to decide?
- DirectorDan HabibStarsNaieer ShaheedNaomie MonplaisirMicah Fialka FeldmanFrom award-winning filmmaker Dan Habib comes INTELLIGENT LIVES, a catalyst to transform the intellectual disability label from a life sentence of isolation to a life of possibility for the most systematically segregated people in America.
- DirectorMichael BarnettStarsVanessa HalbyPeter HalbyIla HalbyA group of men and women with disabilities come together to star in a unique new western film in which they have the leading roles.
- DirectorSarah BartonStarsJohnny CrescendoThe rise of the disability rights movement in the USA, UK and Australia.
- DirectorHenry Alex RubinDana Adam ShapiroStarsJoe SoaresKeith CavillMark ZupanQuadriplegics, who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs, overcome unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.
- DirectorSébastien PaquetStarsJames 'Munky' ShafferBrian 'Head' WelchJonathan DavisA young man born with Cerebral Palsy battles a paralyzed left hand, bullies and stereotypes about the disabled to defy the odds and make it as a rock and roll guitarist -- Ultimately, sharing the stage with the very band that inspired him to start (or to achieve the impossible).
- DirectorBonnie Sherr KleinA look at five individuals with diverse disabilities.
- DirectorJames LebrechtNicole NewnhamStarsJames LebrechtLionel Je'WoodyardJoseph O'ConorDown the road from Woodstock, a revolution blossomed at a ramshackle summer camp for teenagers with disabilities, transforming their lives and igniting a landmark movement.
- DirectorAdrian EspositoStarsEdward BarbanellStephen BlumJamie BrewerDiffability Hollywood is a documentary about the history of people with disabilities in entertainment, how things have changed and still can improve.
- DirectorDaniel GonçalvesStarsPedro Jose BenDaniel GonçalvesDaniel Gonçalves was born with a disability that no doctor has been able to diagnose. In the personal documentary "My Name is Daniel", the young Rio-based filmmaker traces his life's path to try to understand his condition. Through family archive footage and footage recorded nowadays, you'll take a walk-through Daniel's moments, stories, and reflections.
- DirectorNiko von GlasowStarsFred DoveMat FraserStefan FrickeIn the late 1950s and early 60s, over 10,000 children were born with defects due to the use of Thalidomide. Niko von Glasow was one of them, and in NOBODY'S PERFECT he tracks down 11 others who suffered the same side-effects.
- DirectorBilly GolfusDavid E. SimpsonStarsBilly GolfusJoy Mincey PowellEd RobertsA video first-person road movie about disability, civil rights, and the search for intelligent life after brain damage.
- DirectorGarrett ZevgetisStarsMichael RocheJulie SmithMichelle SmithIn a celebration of outcasts, a precocious young blind woman vanishes into quirky obsessions and isolation. With humor and bold curiosity, she chases love and freedom in the most unexpected of places: a provocative fringe community.
- DirectorNiko von GlasowStarsNiko von GlasowGreg PolychronidisMatt StutzmanThe film director Niko von Glasow undertakes a journey to athletes, who compete at the Paralympic Games in London 2012. He himself is a short-armed avowed hater of sport who cannot understand how anyone could take on such an odeal voluntarily. Even more since everyday life for people with a disability is most often challenging enough.
- DirectorDan HabibSamuel HabibStarsLydia X.Z. BrownSamuel HabibJudith HeumannEmmy-Award winning short documentary following Samuel Habib, a 21-year-old community college student with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, living in Concord, New Hampshire. For his entire K-12 education, he was included in regular classes, learning alongside non-disabled peers. He attended high school prom, played sports, got his high school diploma, and he's pursuing a degree at a local community college. He's interested in journalism and film as a career. But for Samuel and millions of other young adults with disabilities, the path beyond public school and into adulthood is a precarious maze. It's difficult to meet new people and impossible to get his 350-pound wheelchair inside his friends' homes and cars. He thrives on connection, but with his labored speech and use of a communication device, he can't keep up with his fast-talking friends and family. He can have a seizure at any moment and requires 24/7 support, yet he wants to get married and have children someday. How to even start dating? "I want to figure out how to follow my dreams," he says. "But no one tells you how to be an adult, let alone an adult with a disability." Samuel is struggling to navigate the ableist bias of the physical and social environment. But he's determined to avoid the statistical realities for most adults with disabilities: unemployed, isolated, and living with their families-or in institutional settings. He decides to travel to meet some badass adults with disabilities and make a film that charts how they built full adult lives-as a roadmap for himself and others.
- DirectorTricia ReganStarsHillary AaronJoe AaronLexi AaronFollows five autistic children as they work together to create and perform a live musical production.
- DirectorKeri BowersTaylor CrossStarsTaylor CrossAmy GravinoBased on the 10 minute award winning short film of the same title, Normal People Scare Me is a feature-length documentary sharing first-person accounts of life and living with autism. Created by Taylor Cross, a 17 year old aspiring film maker with high functioning autism, Normal People Scare Me highlights 65 interviews conducted over the past two years by Cross, with interview subjects representing different levels of abilities on the autism spectrum. The film's interview subjects range in age from 9 to 57 years. Cross asks subjects questions such as "What does autism look like from your perspective? Do you like or not like being autistic?; What do you want to be when you grow up?; to Have you ever been teased? The courageous kids, teens and adults Taylor interviews offer powerful, poignant, and deeply moving insight to life and living behind the many faces and mysteries of autism. In one of Cross' most moving interviews, he connects with surfing champion, Izzy Paskowitz of Surfers Healing. Izzy is revealing in his honesty and perspective on raising his son, Isaiah who suffers from severe autism. Other interviews feature young aspiring artists, poets, actors, college students, and a quirky special ed. bus driver. These are among the fascinating subjects this film explores. Cindy and Janice are no exception. Both of these mothers have autism and have kids with autism. Four sets of siblings with autism are interviewed. Graham Nash provides narration in the film, and singer/songwriter, Taylor Dane sings film's theme song "Locked Inside of Me", written by Joey Travolta and Jeff Less. Cross' mother, Keri Bowers, a disabilities advocate, author, speaker and founder of PAUSE4kids a non-profit serving the developmentally disabled joins her son Taylor and Joey Travolta in the making of this film. The threesome continue to speak and share the upcoming feature film throughout the country. Panel discussion includes Q&A about the making of the film; alternative interventions for supports; and social and life skill training for those with autism in the dramatic and fine and musical arts.
- DirectorJennifer BreaStarsJennifer BreaOmar WasowJessica l e TaylorWhen Harvard Ph.D. student Jennifer Brea is struck down by a fever that leaves her bedridden, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story as she fights a disease that medicine forgot.
- DirectorSophie RobinsonLotje SodderlandStarsDavid LynchSophie RobinsonHente SodderlandAfter suffering a stroke at age 34, a woman documents her struggles, setbacks and eventual breakthrough as she relearns to speak, read and write.
- DirectorIan BonhôtePeter EttedguiStarsJean-Baptiste AlaizeRyley BattEllie ColeThe history and current standing of the Paralympic Games, which has grown to become the world's third largest sporting event.
- DirectorRodney EvansStarsJohn DugdaleRodney EvansKayla HamiltonAn in-depth exploration of the creative paths of blind and visually impaired artists including a photographer, dancer, writer and filmmaker..
- DirectorPatty BerneStarsMat FraserA documentary about a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. The performance work of Sins Invalid serves as an entryway into the absurdly taboo topic of sexuality and disability. Since 2006, our performances have explored themes of sexuality, embodiment, and the disabled body, impacting thousands through live performance. The path to the stage and the performance itself manifest a new paradigm -- disability justice.
- DirectorJade BryanStarsAlbert ChristmasAdam Michael RoseA documentary about deaf people affected by 9/11.