Disability Awareness Month

October is disability awareness month. Expand your literacy with these films directed by Film Fatales members that engage with disability both in front of and behind the camera.

Box of Rain directed by Lonnie Frazier
At seventeen, believing the only thing life had to offer her was violence and pain, Lonnie embarked on a life-altering road trip. Twenty five years later she set out on a new journey: to revisit old friends, heal old wounds, and document the beauty of the community that saved her. Box of Rain is a feature documentary film about a road trip, acceptance, and the healing power of music.

CODA directed by Sian Heder
Ruby is the only hearing member of a deaf family from Gloucester, Massachusetts. At 17, she works mornings before school to help her parents and brother keep their fishing business afloat. But in joining her high school’s choir club, Ruby finds herself drawn to both her duet partner and her latent passion for singing.

Florida Water directed by Hazel Katz
As 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day, the US faces serious questions about the role of seniors in families, communities and society at large. Florida Water explores these issues through the parallel but divergent lives of two retired seniors, Boomer and David. David and Boomer are residents of Nalcrest, a retirement community in central Florida. What should be a period of ultimate ease, however, soon reveals itself to be far more complex as David and Boomer both deal with health crises that force sea-change upon the sunset of their lives.

Imperfect directed by Regan Linton
A group of theater actors, who live and perform with the uniqueness of disability, claim their place in the spotlight in this inspiring documentary.

Is There Anybody Out There? by Ella Glendining
Born with a rare disability, filmmaker Ella Glendining wonders if there is anyone who can share the experience of living in a body like hers. This simple question–one which non disabled people take for granted, leads to a journey to not only others who live like her–but to the realization that meeting them changes how she views herself in the world, as well as many surprises along the way.

Max and Me directed by Claire Andrew
A one-of-a-kind coming-of-age story about an awkward teenage boy who falls in love with the girl next door, only to discover that she passed away the year before from cystic fibrosis.

Renegades co-directed by Marsha Hallagher 
Renegades is an anthology of six 10- to 12-minute short films showcasing the lives of diverse, lesser-known historical figures with disabilities, exploring not only their impact on and contributions to U.S. society, but also the concept of disability culture, which honors the uniqueness of disability. Hosted and narrated by the musician and disability rights advocate Lachi, who is blind, and created and produced by a team of disabled filmmakers, the series is designed to increase public knowledge of disability history, and encourage cross-cultural understanding between non-disabled people and those with disabilities – who make up more than 1 in 4 adults in America today. 

Speak. directed by Jennifer Tiexiera
Speak. follows five fearless teenage orators fighting for glory at the NSDA Nationals — the Super Bowl of public speaking — where 1,000 words can change everything. Over nine high-stakes months, they face nerves, biased judges, and each other, while their coaches battle to keep speech programs alive amid budget cuts, book bans and an America splintering right before their eyes. Meet Noor, a small-town Texan wielding her voice for disability rights; Noah, a sharp-witted outsider turning personal tragedy into a plea for mental health awareness; Sam, a proudly queer Minnesotan calling out our political culture’s obsession with nostalgia; Mfaz, a Sudan-born TikTok sensation challenging stereotypes about Muslim representation and “lunchbox shame”; and Esther, the reigning two-time champ chasing a record-breaking three-peat.

Touch directed by Aleksandra Szczepanowska
Fei Fei is a Western woman living an affluent, cosseted existence as the wife of Chinese executive Zhang Hua in a small resort town in China. But she feels deeply alienated from the country she loves, her friends and husband. Almost as quickly as she starts an affair with a blind masseur, she withdraws, leaving her lover obsessive, possessive, and possessed. The demons they’ve created finally implode in a clash of mixed desires and violent impulses.