This weekend, a large but often overlooked segment of the community will be given a human face at the inaugural Cinema Without Barriers international film festival, the country's first film festival dedicated to disabled people.
As its name suggests, the festival aims to break down some of the physical, social and psychological barriers faced by Russia's disabled community through the medium of films and documentaries that explore various aspects of disabled people's lives.
"There isn't enough information about disabled people in society. Hopefully, the festival will help to enlighten people," said Denise Roza, director of Perspektiva, a Moscow-based NGO for disabled people, which organized the festival with help from the Moscow city government and Rehabilitation International, a New York-based organization that helps disabled people worldwide.
Sixty-five films and documentaries -- from Russia and other parts of the world -- will be shown during the festival, which began Thursday and continues to Sunday. In addition to the screenings, filmmakers, directors and writers from 12 countries will take part in discussions and seminars about their work and wider issues.
"One of the important things about the festival is to get the film industry and people in the disabled community to start thinking of making films that can have an impact," Roza said. "I think it's important for young people with disabilities to watch these films, too -- to see role models, to see what disabled people in other countries are doing."
Roza said more than 10 percent of the Russian population, or 15 million people, have disabilities, yet are largely isolated from the rest of society and given little coverage in the media or on television.
"Even when people do talk about disabled people, it's usually from the point of view of pity, not always equality -- that the person should have the same rights and be part of the same community," she said. "Things have changed a lot in this respect over the past 10 years, but we'd like it to change faster."
Roza, an American who has lived in Russia for the past 13 years, came up with the idea of organizing a film festival when she met with Rehabilitation International's director of communications, Barbara Duncan, on a trip to the United States last November. Duncan, who had experience of organizing similar events, offered her support and began to spread the word about the festival in the international disabled community.
"It helped that it wasn't just a small Russian NGO [organizing the festival]," Roza said. "When we said we were doing it with [Rehabilitation International], people saw that it was a serious event."
After battling to find sponsorship and scouring Moscow for a venue accessible to disabled people, the festival's organizing committee sat down to choose the films they would screen at the festival. Of the 140 films submitted from 20 countries, they eventually chose 65 films -- including 17 from Russia -- which Roza said offered the most inspiring examples of disabled achievers.
Some of the screenings are of well-known movies, such as Jim Sheridan's Oscar-winning 1989 film "My Left Foot," based on the life of Christy Brown and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Most, however, are of rarely shown short films or documentaries, ranging from "Talk" -- a 10-minute British comedy about a non-disabled man who one day wakes up in a world where almost everyone has disabilities and those who don't are discriminated against -- to "A World Without Bodies," a harrowing documentary by American directors Sharon Snyder and David Mitchell that details how the Nazis tested gas chambers on disabled people, as well as Jews.
Snyder and Mitchell will both appear at the festival.
Cinema Without Barriers also includes a series of films for children. A jury will award prizes to 10 films at the end of the festival, which Perspektiva hoped to make an annual event, Roza said.
Cinema Without Barriers runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday to Saturday at the Academy of Sciences (32A Leninsky Prospekt. Metro Leninsky Prospekt) and from 10 a.m. Sunday at the Marriott Grand Hotel (26 Tverskaya Ulitsa. Metro Mayakovskaya). Tickets are free and available at the door. For more information, contact Perspektiva at 970-6805. www.perspektiva-inva.ru
As its name suggests, the festival aims to break down some of the physical, social and psychological barriers faced by Russia's disabled community through the medium of films and documentaries that explore various aspects of disabled people's lives.
"There isn't enough information about disabled people in society. Hopefully, the festival will help to enlighten people," said Denise Roza, director of Perspektiva, a Moscow-based NGO for disabled people, which organized the festival with help from the Moscow city government and Rehabilitation International, a New York-based organization that helps disabled people worldwide.
Sixty-five films and documentaries -- from Russia and other parts of the world -- will be shown during the festival, which began Thursday and continues to Sunday. In addition to the screenings, filmmakers, directors and writers from 12 countries will take part in discussions and seminars about their work and wider issues.
"One of the important things about the festival is to get the film industry and people in the disabled community to start thinking of making films that can have an impact," Roza said. "I think it's important for young people with disabilities to watch these films, too -- to see role models, to see what disabled people in other countries are doing."
Roza said more than 10 percent of the Russian population, or 15 million people, have disabilities, yet are largely isolated from the rest of society and given little coverage in the media or on television.
"Even when people do talk about disabled people, it's usually from the point of view of pity, not always equality -- that the person should have the same rights and be part of the same community," she said. "Things have changed a lot in this respect over the past 10 years, but we'd like it to change faster."
Roza, an American who has lived in Russia for the past 13 years, came up with the idea of organizing a film festival when she met with Rehabilitation International's director of communications, Barbara Duncan, on a trip to the United States last November. Duncan, who had experience of organizing similar events, offered her support and began to spread the word about the festival in the international disabled community.
"It helped that it wasn't just a small Russian NGO [organizing the festival]," Roza said. "When we said we were doing it with [Rehabilitation International], people saw that it was a serious event."
After battling to find sponsorship and scouring Moscow for a venue accessible to disabled people, the festival's organizing committee sat down to choose the films they would screen at the festival. Of the 140 films submitted from 20 countries, they eventually chose 65 films -- including 17 from Russia -- which Roza said offered the most inspiring examples of disabled achievers.
Some of the screenings are of well-known movies, such as Jim Sheridan's Oscar-winning 1989 film "My Left Foot," based on the life of Christy Brown and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Most, however, are of rarely shown short films or documentaries, ranging from "Talk" -- a 10-minute British comedy about a non-disabled man who one day wakes up in a world where almost everyone has disabilities and those who don't are discriminated against -- to "A World Without Bodies," a harrowing documentary by American directors Sharon Snyder and David Mitchell that details how the Nazis tested gas chambers on disabled people, as well as Jews.
Snyder and Mitchell will both appear at the festival.
Cinema Without Barriers also includes a series of films for children. A jury will award prizes to 10 films at the end of the festival, which Perspektiva hoped to make an annual event, Roza said.
Cinema Without Barriers runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday to Saturday at the Academy of Sciences (32A Leninsky Prospekt. Metro Leninsky Prospekt) and from 10 a.m. Sunday at the Marriott Grand Hotel (26 Tverskaya Ulitsa. Metro Mayakovskaya). Tickets are free and available at the door. For more information, contact Perspektiva at 970-6805. www.perspektiva-inva.ru
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