Bringing disability issues to the big screen
IRELAND’S first international disability film festival runs in Dublin and Galway from October 20-23. Entitled Abara, which means ‘shine’ in the Ethiopian language Amharic, organisers of the festival say it will celebrate the progress made by people with disabilities while increasing awareness of the challenges these people encounter across the globe.
Some 15% of the world’s population has a disability. The festival aims to challenge stereotypes about disability through critically acclaimed films.
Abara, which includes a schools’ programme, is organised by the Dóchas Disability and International Development (DID) working group in conjunction with Arts & Disability Ireland. Running in various venues across Dublin, including the Irish Film Institute (IFI), as well as in Galway, Abara is cinema by, with and about people with disabilities.
One of the highlights is the 2010 Academy Award winner for best documentary short, Music By Prudence. It traces the journey of a Zimbabwean girl with a mobility disability. Living in a society where disabled children are sometimes believed to be the result of witchcraft, Prudence transcends superstition and hatred and embraces a world of music and love. Prudence Mabhena, the star of the documentary, will take part in a post screening talk with RTÉ’s Sinéad Crowley at the IFI, with a similar event taking place in Galway’s Eye Cinema.
Chairperson of Abara, Aidan Leavy promises that the festival will be engaging. As chairperson of the Dóchas disability working group, Leavy says he is keen to ensure the issue of people with disabilities “remains firmly on the agenda of international development organisations.”
The festival doesn’t go down the mainstream film route, says Leavy. “We wanted to show films coming primarily from developing countries in Asia and Africa as well as from Latin America. By doing this, we can highlight the issues facing people with disability, living in these places.”
The programming has been assisted by international disability worker, Pádraig Naughton, and Nicky Gogan from the Darklight Film Festival.
Leavy says there is great variety in the films to be screened. “We’re showing Blindsight, which is an incredibly strong and emotive film.” Made in 2006 and short-listed for an Academy award, the film is set against the backdrop of the Himalayas. It follows the adventure of six blind Tibetan teenagers who set out to climb Mount Everest.
Leavy says it was difficult to source films made by people with disabilities. “There are very few films made by people with disability in developing countries. But there are such films in Ireland. We’re showing a number of them, including Tom And Mary, which was made by people with intellectual disabilities, based at the Ballina Arts Centre. It tells the story of a brother and sister whose lives are changed forever by an accident.”
A documentary presented by British actor, musician and performance artist, Mat Fraser, entitled Happy Birthday Thalidomide, will be screened. Fraser, himself a survivor of Thalidomide, will take part in a post screening discussion with Finola Cassidy, spokesperson for the Irish Thalidomide Association.
Fraser has played a survivor of the effects of the notorious Thalidomide drug, prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness, in both Fair City and Holby City.
Fraser went to Brazil to make the documentary in 2004, the 50th year since Thalidomide was first prescribed. While the drug was taken off the market after 18 months in Ireland and Britain, in later years, it was discovered that it led to a great alleviation of pain in people suffering from leprosy.
“The drug was used a lot in South America,” says Cassidy. “But the difficulty was that much of the population was uneducated and unable to read the precautions about not taking the drug while pregnant. So suddenly, this whole new crop of Thalidomide survivors was being born when it was thought this tragedy would never again be revisited. Mat discovered a lot of these Thalidomide survivors in Brazil.”
Cassidy, herself a survivor of Thalidomide, says the film highlights the importance of “never losing your guard, staying vigilant and looking for accountability. The film shows the huge responsibility that pharmaceutical firms carry”.
The complex issue of autism is broached in Drona & Ik. The autism of eight-year-old Drona is witnessed through the eyes of his 12-year-old brother. This award-winning Dutch documentary promises “surprising clarity” in its treatment of the condition. The Abara festival can only add to the already rich offering of cinema in this country, says Leavy.
For further information about Abara, visit www.abara.ie
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