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Helyn Marshall, Accessibility Manager
Jun 17, 2020
ReelAbilities Columbus presented by Art Possible Ohio, the traveling program of the New York ReelAbilities Disabilities Film Festival, features award-winning films that are by and about people with disabilities. The annual event usually rolls out to theaters in the spring and fall; however, due to COVID-19, this year's spring festival became a virtual summer fest. It's a first, but hey, adaptability is the name of the game!
The summer 2020 program starts tonight at 7 PM with An Evening of Shorts, which wraps with a virtual talk-back. I'm most looking forward to seeing JMaxx and the Universal Language because it's focused on dance as a primary mode of communication (I tend to regard it as a basic human language). Plus, from the preview clip, it's apparent that the film's subject, the multidisciplinary artist JMaxx, has talent, dedication, and a unique perspective. Viewing the clip made me wonder, what if the best way I felt heard, seen, and understood was though dance? What if moving my body in space, forming the shapes and rhythms of my calls for and responses to communication, was the way I said hello, yes, no, I'm sorry, please, thank you? What if we all danced together? Would we have fun? Would we feel free? Could we not care for a moment about anyone who wanted to tell us that we'd missed a step and they've been counting our beats this whole time? Could we simply feel thought and emotion moving through our feet, up our legs, spines, arms reaching out into the infinite, faces enrapt in flow? What if we stopped using words for a while and connected in this other, equally valid and nuanced way as part of our daily lives?
JMaxx and the Universal Language, courtesy of ReelAbilities Film Festival
ReelAbilities films always seem to do this to me. They make me take a step out of my body, mind, and life and look in through the window of someone else's. Sometimes there are stark portrayals of acquiring disabilities, of lives changed and people figuring out new ways of being. Sometimes there are joyous triumphs of what an individual can do after being told they can't anymore or never would. Often, threads of self-advocacy run though the films.
As the Accessibility Manager for the Wex, I'm interested in how access (or lack of access and the steps taken to provide it), creative problem-solving, adaptation, and allyship are often centered in the films. How do some people work together to get what they need? How do some people do it independently? ReelAbilities brings together all of these ideas and more—including big picture questions like, "What is love?"—to explore and honor the diversity of humanity through varied abilities and expressions. There are many windows through which to view the universality of disability represented in these collected, individual stories.
There are additional festival dates with streams of Children's Stop-Motion Film Festival on Saturday, June 27 and the feature film Margarita with a Straw on Wednesday, July 1. All films are open captioned with audio description available and are free to stream, but advance registration is required.
RSVP to tonight's Evening of Shorts with virtual talk-back via Eventbrite.
Learn more about the June 27 and July 1 programs via ReelAbilities Film Festival Columbus on Facebook.
For more info on copresenter Art Possible Ohio, a nonprofit agency that connects inspired artists with their passion, links service providers with resources, and provides all citizens with creative opportunities, check out its Facebook page.
Top of page: scene from Grateful: The Jenni Berebitsky Story, streaming as part of An Evening of Shorts on June 17; photo courtesy of ReelAbilities Film Festival
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