Disability Film Festival April 2008 Light House Media Centre Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton Disability Film Festival 2008
Friday 18 April - All Screenings & Events are FREE
10.45am - 2.30pm OSKA BRIGHT on the Road
6 - 7pm Sport, Leisure, Transport & Equipment (MACE Archive)
7pm The Festival Reception
7.45pm Special People + New Short by Justin Edgar
Saturday 19 April - All Screenings & Events are FREE
10am - 3pm SCRIPT workshop for Disabled screenwriters
1 - 2pm SPLITSCREEN Installation in the Main Cinema
2 - 4pm Short Films by Disabled People from around the World
4.30 - 6pm Disability and Dance on Film
7 - 8.30pm From Cripple to Disabled: Changing Perception (MACE Archive)
Sunday 20 April
1 - 2pm SPLITSCREEN Installation in the Main Cinema - FREE
2.30pm Reach for the Sky (U) + Short Film - Tickets cost £3
Films in the Green House
All day, Fri - Sun Watch all of the Festival Film Submissions - FREE
The Disability Film Festival is funded by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council and Screen WM, Arts Council West Midlands and is a joint project between Digital Disability, Wolverhampton’s leading Disability Arts organisation, and Light House, The Chubb Buildings, Fryer Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1HT
t: 01902 716055 e: info@light-house.co.uk www.light-house.co.uk
DISABILITY FILM FESTIVAL
Wolverhampton Disability Film Festival 2008
Wolverhampton’s first Disability Film Festival brings work from regional, national and international disabled filmmakers to the big screen as the culmination of Wolverhampton Disability Arts Festival. Featuring a wide variety of genres and styles, including documentary, drama, comedy and archive, both feature length and short films, the festival aims to celebrate the talents of disabled filmmakers, stimulate debate and give disabled people an opportunity to showcase their artistic talents. Equally, we take time out from the present to see how disability was seen in the past with two archive screenings. Most screenings and events throughout the weekend are free.
The Festival is funded by National Lottery through the UK Film Council and Screen WM, Arts Council England, Digital Disability and Light House.
FRIDAY 18 APRIL
OSKA BRIGHT on the Road 10.45am - 2.30pm FREE
The Festival begins with four different screenings from Oska Bright on the Road, offering a rare chance to see a selection of short films from Oska Bright 2007, the original festival of short films run by, and for, people with a learning disability.
Sport, Leisure, Transport & Equipment (MACE Archive) 6 - 7pm FREE
The first of two Midland Archive for Central England (MACE) screenings of material from their vaults which show and explore disability. The material shown includes early silent material of the
Derby School for the Deaf right through to a raft of 1960s, 70s and 80s ATV newscasts showing the lives, transport and cumbersome equipment disabled people experienced. Although not always PC this is a visual treat revealing as much about the filmmakers as it does about disabled people. A must for those interested in archive and the study of film and its history.
The Festival Reception 7pm FREE
Join our special guests and festival partners – Digital Disability, Screen WM, Arts Council, MACE, Arena Theatre and Light House - to drink (and eat) to the success of the film festival as the finale to the Wolverhampton Disability Arts Festival which began in October 2007. There will be an opportunity to meet some of the filmmakers and find out about filmmaking talent in the region, nationally and internationally.
Special People + New Short by Justin Edgar 7.45pm FREE
The Festival Reception is followed by a preview screening of a brand new short film directed by Justin Edgar which will have its official World Premiere in Edinburgh in the summer of 2008. This will be followed by Justin Edgar’s new feature film Special People and a Q & A with the cast and crew. (Don’t miss your chance to see Special People free before it goes into national distribution in July!)
SATURDAY 19 APRIL
SCRIPT workshop for disabled screenwriters 10am - 3pm FREE
An introductory workshop for aspiring disabled screen and script writers led by SCRIPT. The beginning, it is hoped, of the development of a number of West Midlands based disabled writers.
SPLITSCREEN 1 - 2pm FREE
An installation, by Nicola Lane, juxtaposing two films from two cultures: Nache Mayuri, the Indian biopic of classical dancer Sudha Chandran; and Reach for the Sky, the British biopic of World War II fighter pilot Douglas Bader. A half-hour mirror-image narrative reveals layers and contrasts in the representation of disability through time, cultures and gender. Funded by Arts Council England.
Short Films by Disabled People from Around the World 2 - 4pm FREE
Come and see a selection of the best short films submitted by disabled film makers from around the world. From Dutch stammerers and the pushy parents of Russian kids with CP, right through to northern Learning Disable Martial Arts experts and Scottish Bakers.
Disability and Dance on Film 4.30 - 6pm FREE
A selection of short films looking at dance and disability on film followed by a discussion hosted by Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company. Rachel Freeman, Director of Blue Eyed Soul, will explore with dancers (disabled and non-disabled) the role of dance in the lives of disabled and non-disabled people. This screening includes a MACE film of a 1981 ‘Wheelchair Dance’ class in Cannock.
From Cripple to Disabled: Changing Perception (MACE Archive) 7 - 8.30pm FREE
The second MACE screening of further material from their vaults which explore disability. Material to be shown includes the Leicester Guild of Cripples in the 1920s; a 1970s film about Wolverhampton’s Learning Difficulty Services; a look at the Invacar; Education and Disability from the Star Centre (1960s) to Hereward College (1970s). There are also news reports on a number of individuals such as Frank Letch, the ‘Armless Boy’ who was filmed by ATV attending Birmingham University in the 1960s. The highlight of the Festival, according to
Dr Paul Darke these films are ‘An amazing collection of material which will hopefully tour the Midlands’. Followed by a discussion from Richard Shenton (MACE), Dr Paul Darke, Nicola Lane and Frank Letch.
SUNDAY 20 APRIL
SPLITSCREEN 1 - 2pm FREE
Another chance to see the installation by Nicola Lane juxtaposing two films from two cultures: Nache Mayuri and Reach for the Sky.
Reach for the Sky (U) + Short Film 2.30pm £3
Following on from the SPLITSCREEN installation we have a rare cinema screening of Reach for the Sky (U), the classic British biopic of World War II fighter pilot Douglas Bader. Bader lost both his legs in battle and became a symbol of post-war reconstruction and hope to many.
This screening will be preceded by a new short film that turns our expectation of disability and amputees on its head. Plus, there will be a brief clip from the MACE collection of the man himself, Douglas Bader, opening a workshop for the disabled in Sedgley.
Films in the Green House Fri - Sun FREE
Throughout the Festival visitors can view all the films submitted to the Festival (over fifty films from a minute to an hour long) in the Green House, located in Light House Box Office.
