The ReelAbilities Film Festival, the biggest film festival in the US devoted to fostering understanding and respect for the lives, narratives, and creative expressions of individuals with disabilities, is back for its fifteenth season.
The festival published the schedule, which includes 24 short films from nine different nations and 10 features, including 2023 Spotlight Award winner Troy Kotsur, according to Variety.
Unidentified Items, Being Michelle, Jasmine Is a Star, Pushing Boundaries, The Silent Epidemic, Shadow, Straighten Up and Fly Right, Upside Down, and Alright! (The ASD Band Film) are among the films shown.
Five categories—Out of the Box, Mental Health, Family Friendly, The Art of Living, and With an Edge—are used to group the 24 shorts.
The event will take place at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan from April 27 to May 3. Tickets for Opening Night went on sale on March 15, and those for the festival went on sale on March 30.
“ReelAbilities believes in spotlighting compelling and creative storytelling as a strong tool to engage and generate change for both those who have little knowledge of the disability community and those who experience it every day,” stated founder Isaac Zablocki.
“We are delighted to offer real, first-person accounts that responsibly and engrossingly bring these underrepresented pictures to the fore.”
Pfizer, the Loreen Arbus Foundation, F.Y.Eye, the J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Nielsen Foundation, the Mayor’s Office for Media & Entertainment, Vimeo, Amazon, AMC Networks, Warner Bros. Discovery, and numerous other organisations are among those who are supporting the event.
