A Friend Indeed: The Bill Sackter Story

When filmmaker Yoshifumi Tsubota learns about his slightly autistic uncle who lives alone, he decides to visit him. Drawn to his uncle’s unique personality, he begins to roll his camera as he visits him over the years. Tsubota himself had been diagnosed with a developmental disability and so understanding his uncle is also an act of understanding himself. Through intimate and personal footage, this charming film is gem of a documentary that also highlights contemporary social issues surrounding aging and social care for the disabled.

An award-winning, ground-breaking TV documentary dealing sensitively with the topic of sex and intimacy within the disabled community.

A look into the life of Brett, a boy born without arms due to thalidomide exposure.

Madeline Stuart is a fashion celebrity who has walked the runway at the New York Fashion Week, has 700 000+ followers on Facebook and is covered by international media world wide. This documentary follows Madeline on her journey to becoming the world's first professional supermodel with Down syndrome, challenging our perception of identity, beauty and disability.

Paul Wellstone was the charismatic Minnesota progressive who used grassroots organizing to get elected and give ordinary people a stake in government. His 3rd election campaign was cut short when his small plane crashed into the north woods of Minnesota just 11 days before the 2002 election. Wellstone! explores the origin of his politics, his controversial road to the United States Senate, his deep bond with his wife and 'co-senator' Sheila, and the legacy of a life of progressive populism.

18 partners discuss the choices they’ve made in deciding on their mates. At its heart, this unscripted documentary film is about acceptance; a gentle message that we shouldn’t judge the choices of others, even if they seem a little different.

Denese Joy Becker, a manicurist living in Iowa, discovers she is indeed Dominga Sic Ruiz, a survivor from a 1982 Guatemalan massacre, when more than 200 people were killed in the small village of Rio Negro, after opposing the construction of a dam, sponsored by World Bank. She then tries to unveil the truth.

Humorist Roy Blount Jr. takes viewers on a journey down the Mississippi River, showcasing everything from areas with spectacularly beautiful scenery to ugly and dangerously polluted stretches bordered by industrial development.

Ava

Luca Patuelli is an internationally renown Bboy dancer known as LazyLegz. He born with Arthrogryposis, a disorder that makes the use of his legs almost impossible. For the past few years, he has been the head of a Hip Hop dance program: Projet RAD, an urban dance program in which he gives people with disabilities a chance to follow inclusive classes in a safe environment adapted to their needs.

Art, activism and disability are the starting point for what unfolds as a funny and intimate portrait of five surprising individuals. Director Bonnie Sherr Klein (Not a Love Story, and Speaking Our Peace) has been a pioneer of women's cinema and an inspiration to a generation of filmmakers around the world. SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability marks Klein's return to a career interrupted by a catastrophic stroke in 1987. Always the activist, she now turns the lens on the world of disability culture, and ultimately, the transformative power of art.

A daily life in Korogocho, Kenya, one of the world’s poorest slums.

A deafblind Danish woman travels to Nepal to meet a woman with the same condition in the hopes of communicating and engaging in a cultural exchange. A Woman Like Me is a remarkable demonstration of the delicacy and complexity of human communication, and how susceptible it is to privilege, preconceptions and misunderstandings.

For decades in Toledo, Ohio, Lott Industries has excelled at manufacturing small car parts. All 1,200 Lott employees have developmental disabilities, yet the company competes with traditional non-disabled businesses and achieves the highest quality ratings. When the US auto industry crisis hits, however, Lott's market is wiped out and president Joan Browne has 12 months to reinvent or close the doors. For the workers, the stakes are even higher since their jobs are a refuge, not only from the impoverishment that affects the majority of America's disabled, but from social isolation. For employees Kevin, Wanda and T.J., work is more than just a direly needed paycheck, it's a lifeline, a symbol of their dignity, and their dreams made real. The race to find a new business plan drives this engrossing recession economy drama, but it's the humanity the film restores to the balance sheet that makes A Whole Lott More such a rare achievement. Written by Myrocia Watamaniuk

Every now and then, we get a teacher who doesn't just connect with us -- they make us a better person in the world. Jeffrey Wright of Louisville, Ky. is one of those teachers. He uses wacky experiments to teach high school kids about science and the universe. But it's his own personal story about his relationship with his disabled son that shows his students the true meaning of life.

In this experimental short film, Kristian Day collected artwork created by the public. He found the majority of the pieces at "Sharpie marker demonstration tables" and it took almost a year to collect the artwork. All pieces were created by chance with no prior thought. He originally intended on using the photos for a collage canvas piece, however after deciding that a short film would stand the test of time longer, he took individual shots of over 30 pieces. The drone music was created using a variety of simple sound generators & tapes that are being manipulated by delays, filters, and reverberation effects.

This Is Not About Me tells the story of Jordyn Zimmerman. Jordyn dreamt of becoming a teacher. She started out eager to learn at school, but she was soon separated from the other children. Unable to communicate, teachers thought she was also unable to understand or learn. Year after year, her behavior worsened. She was restrained and placed in seclusion. Jordyn found herself caught in a system that unintentionally turned her life into a living nightmare. Finally, at the age of 18, with the help of educators who see her differently, she manages to turn her fate and flourish.

This is the face of someone the world assumes was stripped of her potential at the age of 18. But tragedy is not Mallory Weggemann's reality. Suddenly paralyzed from the waist down, she was turned loose to become a Paralympic Champion and activist. As Mallory's story unfolds, we come to understand that it was because of, not in spite of, that moment that she discovered who she really is.

Sima Shimony, age 69, embarks on a mission to find her friends and staff from the "ALYN" Institute for Children with Disabilities, which was situated in the secluded San-Simon monastery in Jerusalem, during the 1960s. Armed with a small camera attached to her wheelchair, she sets off on a journey across the country together with her friend Pini Newirth, also a polio child, to unfold and reclaim the story of the children affected by the Polio epidemic. In a futile attempt to rebuild their bodies so they could walk, the children were subjected to excruciating medical procedures with no parents or family at their side. But growing up together forged a group of remarkable, self-driven women and men with disabilities who eventually launched the Disability Rights movement in Israel.

Come What May documents the extraordinary life of Mary, a parent carer, and the challenges she has overcome to support herself and her family.