Maxel (2016)

Flying Lessons

Two estranged adopted sisters are forced together by their mother's sudden death: Beatrice, an autistic Chinese high school senior who wants to learn to fly, and Talia, a queer black musician who never wanted custody of Beatrice in the first place. Starring the autistic actress the story is based on, the film blurs narrative and documentary styles and showcases a unique and underrepresented perspective on death and grief.

Die Eisbombe

Plot unavailable

The Other Sister

A mentally challenged girl proves herself to be every bit as capable as her "perfect" sister when she moves into an apartment and begins going to college.

Schubert in Love

Olaf tries to make his dreams reality and thereby always gets into trouble with his surroundings. He meets his biggest obstacle yet when his father pressures him into having a child. Finding a woman becomes difficult when Olaf realizes that they have something he doesn't have: feelings.

Tully

Marlo, a mother of three, including a newborn, is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant at first, she quickly forms a bond with the thoughtful, surprising, and sometimes challenging nanny named Tully.

Ashley Storrie: Hysterical

Star of BBC Scotland's Up For It! and BBC Radio Scotland, Ashley Storrie returns to the Fringe with a raw and hysterical show about mental health and the ways she uses humour to overcome her pain.

I Used to Be Famous

A former boy band star unexpectedly gets a second shot at success when he forms a bond with a gifted young drummer.

Macie on a Good Day

Macie (Jen Santos) is a twenty-three year old woman with IDD (Individual with Developmental Disability) stuck in the middle of a feud between her sisters Abby (Maria Sole), a recovering alcoholic trying to become a more active member in Macie's life and her primary caregiver Megan (Elizabeth Archibeque).

Mozart and the Whale

A love story between two savants with Asperger's syndrome, a kind of autism, whose conditions sabotage their budding relationship.

Being There

A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television.

Benny & Joon

A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.

Party Quest

Party Quest is the coming-of-age story of a college student with Autism. The Narrator, who acts like the voice in his head, persuades him to get the girl of his dreams in an epic adventure: a party. It’s just as bad as he thinks it’s going to be, until maybe it isn’t.

Isn't She Great

An unsuccessful over-the-top actress becomes a successful over-the-top authoress in this biography of Jacqueline Susann, the famed writer of "The Valley of the Dolls" and other trashy novels. Facing a failing career, Susann meets a successful promoter who becomes her husband. After several failures to place her in commercials and a TV quiz show, he hits upon the idea for her to become a writer. In the pre-1960s, her books were looked upon as trash and non-printable. But then the sexual revolution hit and an audience was born for her books. The story shows the hidden behind-the-scenes story of Susann's life, including her autistic son and her continuing bout with cancer which she hid up until her death.

My Brother Chases Dinosaurs

As a child, Jack believed the tender lie his parents told him, that Gio was a special being with superpowers, as in a comic book. Now that he is about to go to high school, however, Jack no longer believes that his brother is a superhero, in fact, he is almost ashamed of him, especially since he met Arianna, the first love of his life.

The Specials

For twenty years, Bruno and Malik have lived in a different world—the world of autistic children and teens. In charge of two separate nonprofit organizations (The Hatch & The Shelter), they train young people from underprivileged areas to be caregivers for extreme cases that have been refused by all other institutions. It’s an exceptional partnership, outside of traditional settings, for some quite extraordinary characters.

Molly

Molly McKay is a profoundly autistic twenty-something woman who has lived in an institution from a young age following her parents' death in a car accident. When the institution must close due budget cuts, Molly is left in the care of her neurotypical, older brother, Buck McKay, an advertising executive and perennial bachelor. Buck makes her undergo an experimental medical treatment, with unexpectedly drastic results.

Oskar, das Schlitzohr und Fanny Supergirl

Grandpa Oskar takes neither the truth nor himself very seriously. The rascal has just been released from prison, where he was serving a sentence for imposture. Since the ex-con needs a place to stay, he quartered himself in the old construction trailer in the farthest corner of the garden of his daughter Tilda, who is still mad at him. The senior soon meets his autistic granddaughter Fanny, whose antics and peculiarities threaten to break the family under. In contrast to the old man, the 8-year-old takes the truth very seriously. In order to gain their trust, Oskar does not introduce himself to the comic-loving girl as the criminal grandpa, who has been missing for years, but as Professor Krypton. For Fanny, who prefers to wear a brightly colored superhero costume and is teased at school for it, the omniscient mentor from the Superman planet comes along just at the right time, because she has a dream: To win the talent competition at school!

Please Stand By

A young autistic woman runs away from her caregiver in order to boldly go and deliver her 500-page Star Trek script to a writing competition in Hollywood. On an adventure full of laughter and tears, Wendy follows the guiding spirit of Mr. Spock on her journey into the unknown.

Barfi!

Three young people learn that love can neither be defined nor contained by society's definition of normal and abnormal.

Mr. Know-It-All

A football coach afraid of commitment has to take care of his nephew with Asperger's Syndrome.

Cha Cha Real Smooth

Fresh out of college and stuck at his New Jersey home without a clear path forward, 22-year-old Andrew begins working as a party starter for bar/bat mitzvahs—where he strikes up a unique friendship with a young mom and her teenage daughter.

Ezra

Max Bernal is a stand-up comedian living with his father while struggling to co-parent his autistic son Ezra with his ex-wife. When forced to confront difficult decisions about their son's future, Max and Ezra embark on a cross-country road trip that has a transcendent impact on both their lives.

A World Record Christmas

Marissa and Eric encourage their young son with autism, who is determined to set a Guinness World Record — and has the chance to do so on Christmas Eve.

The Sense of Wonder

Louise, a widow with two children, almost crushes a stranger with her car. She takes care of him, even if he's not really wounded. It turns out that he has mental disorders and that they can help each other much more than they thought.

The Puppet Asylum

Otto Baxter, a filmmaker with Down's Syndrome, directs and stars in this musical horror-comedy short based on his life, set in Victorian London.

The Girl from the Wardrobe

This is the story of three characters (brothers Tomek and Jacek and their neighbor Magda), each of them is in their own way lonely and alienated. The title character makes herself secluded. Tomek's alienation results from his neurological disease, and Jacek contacts the world mainly via the Internet. This is also a film about love. Love of one brother to the other and of one alienated human being to the other. All together it creates a very universal picture with a Polish entourage.

Weekend Rebels

Mirco von Juterczenka's novel "Wir Wochenendrebellen" is the story of a father and his ten-year-old son, who is Asperger's autistic. The boy has set his mind on finally finding his favourite football club. But his selection criteria are very specific and besides, he wants to experience all the clubs (no matter in which league they play) live in the stadium.

Forrest Gump

A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.

Cube

A group of strangers find themselves trapped in a maze-like prison. It soon becomes clear that each of them possesses the peculiar skills necessary to escape, if they don't wind up dead first.

Backstreet Dreams

Backstreet Dreams is the story of a man, who has a disturbed child. He and his wife take their son to a clinic, where he is diagnosed by a talented psychologist (Stevie), as being autistic. After catching his unfaithful wife with another man, Dean tells Lucy to leave, and is faced with the task of raising Shane on his own. Stevie believes that she can improve Shane's condition, going back to Dean's apartment and later convincing him that he can provide a better world for his son. Angelo, who lives in the same apartment building and is like a father to Dean, urges on the relationship, sensing that Stevie is luring Dean away from backstreet dealings, and giving him courage to face life in a positive way. Together, they build a foundation for a better life outside of the violence and danger of the backstreets where they live.

Change of Habit

Dr. John Carpenter takes the job of running a health center in a low-income district. He enlists three women to help out who — unbeknownst to him — are actually nuns in street clothes. The church wants to improve the neighborhood but fears that nuns in full habit would not be well received. Unaware of her unavailability, John falls for Sister Michelle, serenading her with his guitar — which, luckily for him, effectively wears away at her religious resolve.

Diagnosis

A mother learns how to be a good mother in the face of adversity after her son's diagnosis.

Secret Identity

When a young Autistic boy, suddenly manifests superpowers on his 9th Birthday, he and his family are forced to deal with the potential ramifications.

"Hannah"

Plot unavailable

Impossible Decision

Impossible Decision follows a dying man who realizes there's no one to take care of his autistic son after he's gone. The story revolves around a decision he believes is his son's only chance to survive without him. Unfortunately the decision causes his life to spiral out of control when he discovers a billionaire scientist's plot to kidnap and experiment on autistic boys. This high energy futuristic story compels you to ask the question, if this were you what would you do.

Triangle

When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong.

Mercury Rising

Renegade FBI agent Art Jeffries protects a nine-year-old autistic boy who has cracked the government's new "unbreakable" code.

Programming Hope

The inspirational story of a race-car driving software developer whose career suddenly switches gears when his son with autism inspires him to create a video game company that trains and employs adults on the autism spectrum.

Bless the Child

When Maggie's sister Jenna saddles her with an autistic newborn named Cody she touches Maggie's heart and becomes the daughter she has always longed for. But six years later Jenna suddenly re-enters her life and, with her mysterious new husband, Eric Stark, abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis takes up her cause when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently murdered children.

The Autistic Me

This documentary follows three people with autism at pivotal moments on the rocky road to being accepted as an adult. They are all fighting for independence and responsibility, but being frustrated by the shackles imposed on them by their disability, their families and the preconceived ideas of mainstream society.

The Black Balloon

Thomas is turning 16. His dad's in the army and they've just moved to a town in New South Wales; his mom is pregnant; his older brother, Charlie, who's autistic, has his own adolescent sexual issues. Thomas finds Charlie an embarrassment in public, so when Thomas is attracted to Jackie, a girl in his swim class, Charlie presents any number of obstacles when she drops by their house, when the three of them go for a walk, and during a family birthday dinner. Can Thomas find a way to enter the world of teen romance and still be his brother's keeper, or is Charlie's disability going to prove more than Thomas can handle?

Chocolate

Zen, an autistic teenage girl with powerful martial arts skills, gets money to pay for her sick mother Zin's treatment by seeking out all the people who owe Zin money and making them pay.

The Speed Cubers

This documentary captures the extraordinary twists and turns in the journeys of Rubik's Cube-solving champions Max Park and Feliks Zemdegs.

The Horse Boy

Filmmaker Michel Orion Scott captures a magical journey into a little-known world, in a documentary which chronicles Rupert Isaacson and Kristin Neff's personal odyssey to make sense of their child's autism, and find healing for him and themselves in the unlikeliest of places.

Life on the Spectrum

Autism Speaks Canada remains committed to building inclusive communities where autistic Canadians can reach their full potential. We are excited to share “Life on The Spectrum by Autism Speaks Canada” with you today. In this 20 minute documentary, we share lived experiences of autistic Canadians and their families, from coast to coast to coast, to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism. First, we start with the land acknowledgement and then visit our autistic friends and their families across Canada. Join us on this journey to explore “Life on the Spectrum”.

Bill and Bunny

Bill is on cloud nine. He has just become a big brother to the lovley Bolla. At first she seems like any other toddler, curious, jovial and sweet. But as the months turn into years and Bolla continues to live in a world of her own, it becomes clear that she is not quite like other children. Based on the book by Gunilla Bergström, creator and author of the Alfons Åberg (Alfie Atkins) books.

Temple Grandin

A biopic of Temple Grandin, an autistic American who has become one of the leading scientists in humane livestock handling.

Generation A: Portraits of Autism and the Arts

A documentary about young people with autism, and how arts and creative therapies help them to lead fuller lives.

A Place Nearby

The city is gasping for air in the scorching summer heat; everyone is under suspicion; a persistent detective superintendent is burrowing for the truth. A fiercely penetrating drama about a mother's love for her autistic adult son, who is suspected of murdering a local girl. The mother knows her son could have committed the murder, but she conceals her knowledge, and gradually becomes entangled in a thicket of lies. How far is she prepared to go to protect her son who is helpless in so many ways? Does she have it within her to give up the only person she loves?

Arthur and the Infinite

"Arthur e o Infinito - Um Olhar Sobre o Autismo" (Arthur and the Infinite - A Look Into Autism) is a Brazilian film that tells the story of a six-years-old boy that is diagnosed as autistic. As the family reacts to the circumstances, Arthur's mother seeks ways to better understand his life.

The Boy Who Could Fly

Milly and Louis, and their recently-widowed mom, Charlene, move to a new neighborhood. Once there, they all deal with a variety of personal problems, but Milly finds a friend in Eric, her autistic next door neighbor. Eric has a fascination with flight, and as the story progresses, he exerts an enthralling force of change on all those around him.

Beautiful Young Minds

This BAFTA nominated documentary tells the story of some of the brightest mathematical brains of a generation. Each year, exceptionally gifted teenagers from over 90 countries compete for medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad. The film follows a group of brilliant teenagers as they battle it out to become the chosen six selected to represent the UK.

A Dark Place

When a young boy turns up dead in a sleepy Pennsylvania town, a local sanitation truck driver, Donald, plays detective, embarking on a precarious and obsessive investigation to prove the boy was murdered.