In a city brimming with film festivals, do we have room for one more? Geoff McMurchy, the artistic director of Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture and co-curator of the Wide Angle Media Festival (Mar. 22-25 at the Roundhouse Community Centre), hopes so.
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»has never had a disability film festival and I think that artists with a variety of disabilities offer a particular perspective, McMurchy says. We see the power of the arts to convey our message and enlighten people.
The festivals curators challenged themselves to find films that met certain criteria: high production values and significant input from a person with disabilities, either by writing the screenplay, directing or collaborating in partnership. To wit, the festival boasts shorts and features from around the world and features five works specifically commissioned by WAM in the hopes of levelling the playing field and getting people with disabilities into the film industry. More often than not, disabled people are depicted on film or television as plot points to teach a morality lesson rather than as regular, everyday people.
Its happening sometimes when a film is made by a non-disabled person about a person with a disability, McMurchy says. Thats part of what were trying to do: take control over the representation of people with disabilities and control our own narrative and tell our own story. Thats what its all about.
The WAM Festival is Mar. 22-25 at Roundhouse Community Centre. Tickets, screenings and more information: .
