Saturday 12:00 PM – The Freight and Salvage, Berkeley
Open audio description.
Gaslit – Best of Festival Short
Australia, 2018 (Dramatic Short, 9 min)
A young disabled woman fights to hold on to her identity in the face of the world’s assumptions and strives for independence from her parents, who doubt her ability to
become a mother.
Deaf Jam
USA, 2011 (Documentary Feature, 53 min)
Aneta Brodski, a deaf teen living in New York City, discovers the power of American Sign Language poetry. As she prepares to be one of the first deaf poets to compete in a spoken-word slam, her journey leads to an unexpected collaboration.
Song For Rent, After Jack Smith
United States, 2018 (Dramatic Short, 5 minutes)
Shot on 16mm film and with a loop of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” in the background, in this adaptation of a 1969 film by Jack Smith, Barbarella Bush joins Rose Courtyard – a drag character based on Rose Kennedy – in a campy exploration of US hegemony, queer assimilation, and queer disruption.
Carlotta’s Face
Germany, 2018 (Animated Short, 5 minutes)
As a child, Carlotta didn’t expect the people around her to have faces. She even didn’t recognize her own face. This animated short shares her journey as she learns about her differences through isolation and cruelty until she later finds that art offers her a way to recognize herself.
Invalid Corps
USA, 2018 (Dramatic Short, 28 minutes)
In July 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early launched a surprise raid that took him to the very gates of Washington DC. The city is in a panic. Almost every able-bodied soldier from the Union Sunday 11:00 AM – The Contemporary Jewish Museumad had already been sent south for the siege of Petersburg, more than 100 miles away.
The only defenders remaining are clerks, government officials, and the Invalid Corps. Made up of men injured in battle or by disease, these “hopeless cripples” must hold out for a desperate 24 hours until Union General Grant can send reinforcements.
With Lincoln himself on the ramparts, they cannot afford to fail.
The Gallery- Juror’s Choice
UK, 2018 (Dramatic Short, 8 min)
At an audition, Maya becomes part of an absurd cycle and loses track of who she’s performing for and why. The Gallery is a narrative short that explores how some marginalized groups can be shut out of cultural institutions, and how they can feel pressured into perpetuating a system that doesn’t appear to be working in their favor.
Sunday 11:00 AM – The Contemporary Jewish Museum
Open audio description / no audio description screening room available upon advanced request.
Chin Up – P.K. Walker Innovation in Craft Award
UK, 2018 (Documentary Short, 4 minutes)
Throughout her childhood, JoAnne loved to draw herself as a heroic character to escape the insecurity and feeling of being different that came with her condition. However, JoAnne never drew her facial features any differently to fit the scene of a heroic warrior or mystical mermaid. This animated documentary touches on poignant milestones that have impacted JoAnne and made her the strong woman that she is today.
Late Afternoon
Ireland, 2017 (Animated Short, 9 minutes)
Emily finds herself disconnected from the world around her. She drifts back through her memories to relive different moments from her life. Emily must look to her past so that she may fully connect with the present. This animated, Oscar-nominated short offers an honest glimpse into the highs and lows of life with dementia.
Stinky Chicken Dog 2
USA, 2018 (Documentary Short, 13 minutes)
New filmmaker Jenni Funk explores the complex and beautiful relationships between people with disabilities and their animals. She uses a speech-generating device to interview a service dog owner and a companion pet owner and tell her own story of a tense relationship with her formerly abused and traumatized pet Chihuahua (the stinky chicken dog) who is frightened of her movements and her voice.
Inclinations
Canada, 2019 (Dramatic Short, 5 minutes)
Choreographed, directed, and shot from disability perspectives, this dance-on-video short contrasts the playful connections when disability aesthetics, community, and a ramp meet the institutional histories and discordant inclinations that can lurk just below the surface.
The Penguin Who Couldn’t Swim
UK, 2018 (Animated Short, 5 minutes)
This animated short, made by a disabled animator, follows the story of a penguin who lives on a rocky island in the southern seas where she feels isolated from the rest of her colony.
TIS
France, 2017 (Animated Short, 9 min)
A still, blank sheet of paper. A silhouette appears delineated beneath its surface. Here is our hero, TIS. He struggles and manages to free himself from the sheet of paper, but his feet remain attached to it. In the distance, he sees a crowd of beings similar to him. TIS tries to catch up with them but the sheet of paper he is attached to hinders his movements.
The Man of the Trees – Advocacy Award
Italy/Burkina Faso, 2018 (Documentary Short, 18 min)
Daniel Balima is a senior horticulturist from Tenkodogo, a small Sub-Saharan African town in Burkina Faso, where he lives with his large family and has worked since he was born 67 years ago. A polio survivor who walks on his hands, he inherits his father’s business running a nursery and has given life to more than a million trees during his life.
Sunday 2:00 PM- The Contemporary Jewish Museum
Without audio description / open audio description screening room available upon advanced request.
Are You Volleyball!?
Iran, 2018 (Dramatic Short, 15 min)
A story about asylum seekers displaced from war who live in limbo, hoping for a better home. They conflict with border soldiers every day till a deaf-mute child becomes a catalyst for better communication between the two groups.
CHUSKIT – Best of Festival Feature
India, 2018 ( Feature Film, 90 min)
Sprightly Chuskit’s dream of going to school is cut short when she becomes a paraplegic after an accident. She’s confined to life indoors in the company of her strict grandfather, Dorje. Chuskit continues to harbor hopes of school but Dorje tries to make her understand that school can’t handle her needs. As life at home gets harder, her battle with her grandfather exacerbates. Caught in between their struggle are Chuskit’s parents and her enterprising brother who want to respect the old world views that Dorje represents, but also want to keep Chuskit’s spirit alive. Chuskit will have to get her grandfather to yield or she will have to accept the reality he has chosen for her.
