REEL ABILITIES FILM FESTIVAL TORONTO from Wednesday (May 10) to May 18 at multiple venues. toronto.reelabilities.org Rating: NNNN
“Cinema For All” is the slogan of this year’s Reel Abilities Film Festival, which returns to Toronto this week with eight days of features, shorts and documentaries focusing on people with disabilities.
At a moment when popular culture finds itself grappling with the question of representation, Reel Abilities is a showcase for it. You’ll find dramas centred on developmentally challenged characters and documentaries about autistic swimmers, deaf football players and blind ballerinas. Not one of these projects condescends to their subjects, and precious few of them seek to inspire. They’re just out to tell compelling stories about interesting people.
The festival gets rolling tonight (Wednesday May 10, 7 pm) at Artscape Wychwood Barns with the Canadian premiere of Alexandre Peralta’s documentary about the Fernanda Bianchini Ballet School For The Blind in São Paulo, Looking At The Stars.
Peralta tells the story of the school through one of its instructors, Geyza – who’s about to be married and planning to have children, which will necessarily impact her ability to perform – and her student Thalia, who’s facing her own adjustments after arriving from a conventional school that didn’t have a structure in place for visually impaired students. (The film screens again Sunday May 14 at 7:30 pm at the Al Green Theatre.)
Dance is also at the core of Enter The Faun (Friday May 12, 7:30 pm, Innis Town Hall), which looks at the creative collaboration of choreographer Tamar Rogoff and her latest charge, actor Gregg Mozgala. Mozgala, who has cerebral palsy, wants to dance Rogoff, who’d seen him in a production of Romeo And Juliet, thinks his physicality would be perfect for a mythological project. And it is.
I was also impressed with Sanctuary (Thursday May 11, 7:30 pm, Al Green Theatre), an Irish drama about two young people in Galway (Kieran Coppinger, Charlene Kelly) who want to take their relationship to the next level – but since they’re both classified as intellectually disabled, a sexual encounter is technically illegal.
It’s a little on the manipulative side, which might speak to its origins as a stage play where emotions would be a little bigger – but it’s a solid drama. And the screening will be followed by a panel discussion on disability, sexuality and consent presented by Community Living Toronto, which should be an illuminating conversation.
That’s just a sampling of what Reel Abilities offers: visit the festival website for the full schedule and to purchase tickets. All venues are accessible, and most presentations include audio descriptions and/or captioning, with ASL interpretation provided for panels and Q&As.
