This Is Not About Me (2022)

Blush: An Extraordinary Voyage

For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.

Communion

When adults are ineffectual, children have to grow up quickly. Ola is 14 and she takes care of her dysfunctional father, autistic brother and a mother who lives apart from them and is mainly heard the phone. Most of all she wants to reunite a family that simply doesn’t work — like a defective TV set. She lives in the hope of bringing her mother back home. Her 13 year old brother Nikodem’s Holy Communion is a pretext for the family to meet up. Ola is entirely responsible for preparing the perfect family celebration. “Communion” reveals the beauty of the rejected, the strength of the weak and the need for change when change seems impossible. This crash course in growing up teaches us that failure is not final. Especially when love is in question.

Markéta chce taštičku

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Secret Ingredients

While the debate continues about GMOs, Roundup and other toxic pesticides, this powerful film shares remarkable stories of people who regain their health after discovering the secret ingredients in their food and making a bold commitment to avoid them.

Still Tomorrow

Yu Xiuhua was raised to hope for little from her life in the rural Chinese province of Hubei. At 19, Xiuhua’s mother encouraged her to marry a man nearly twice her age, fearful no one else would accept a wife with Xiuhua’s condition — cerebral palsy. But as her 20th anniversary approaches, Xiuhua’s poetry goes viral, and she becomes the voice of a rising feminist movement throughout China.

Autism: The Musical

Follows five autistic children as they work together to create and perform a live musical production.

NINA G: STUTTERER INTERRUPTED

This one-of-a-kind comedy special showcases the comedian's riotous stand-up performance, exploring everything from the Disability experience to her Italian-Catholic upbringing to body image issues and more.

The Reason I Jump

Based on the book by Naoki Higashida, filmmaker Jerry Rothwell examines the lives of five non-speaking, autistic youngsters.

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.

Full Circle

Faced with a traumatic injury that renders you permanently disabled; how would you reinvent yourself? Full Circle tells the story of Trevor Kennison and Barry Corbet’s shared resiliency and refusal to let their passion for life be limited by Spinal Cord Injury. It is an unblinking examination of the challenges of Spinal Cord Injury, and a celebration of the growth that such tragedy can catalyze.

The Hugo's Brain

The Hugo's Brain is a French documentary-drama about autism. The documentary crosses authentic autistic stories with a fiction story about the life of an autistic (Hugo), from childhood to adulthood, portraying his difficulties and his handicap.

Preschool to Prison

Preschool to Prison is a compelling examination of how the United States public school system is built and operated like prisons. Zero-tolerance policies are used to justify suspension and arrests that set up a pathway to send children of color and children with special needs from school to prison. Children are being suspended, restrained, dragged, physically manhandled, and subsequently arrested for minor offenses such as throwing candy on a school bus. These personal accounts from people affected by the school-to-prison pipeline give riveting tales about the generational impact on society.

The Anti-Vax Conspiracy

Who are the people behind the international anti-Covid-vaccine movement and why are they doing it? This journey inside the astonishing world of the anti-vaxxers finds out.

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived

As Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double in the Harry Potter films, David Holmes' work has been seen worldwide by millions of people. Tragically an on-set accident ended what David calls "the best job in the world," leaving him paralyzed. Like the on-screen character he helped bring to life, David is determined to continue seeking adventure and living life to the fullest despite mounting obstacles.

Brains in Danger

For the past 20 years, the world has seen an alarming decrease in IQ and a rise of autism and behavioral disorders. This international scientific investigation reveals how chemicals in objects surrounding us affect our brain, and especially those of fetuses.

Poster Girl

POSTER GIRL is the story of Robynn Murray, an all-American Apple pie high-school cheerleader turned tough-as-nails machine gunner in the Iraq War and a “poster girl” for women in combat, distinguished by Army Magazine’s cover shot. Now Sgt. Robynn Murray comes home from Iraq, to face a new kind of battle she never anticipated. Her tough-as-nails exterior begins to crack, leaving Robynn struggling with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Shot and directed by first-time filmmaker Sara Nesson, POSTER GIRL is an emotionally raw documentary that follows Robynn over the course of two years as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery and redemption, using art and poetry to redefine her life.

Makayla's Voice: A Letter to the World

A teen with autism unlocks a joyous world of self-expression as she shares her voice for the first time using a letter board.

Nina is an Athlete

On the cusp of turning 40, wheelchair badminton champion Nina Gorodetsky, has her first and maybe last, chance to participate in the Paralympics. However, she is negotiating a ticking biological clock both as a mother and as an athlete. What would she be willing to sacrifice to realize her Olympic dream?

Partners

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.

Au cœur du Papotin

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Is There Anybody Out There?

While navigating daily discrimination, a filmmaker who inhabits and loves her unusual body searches the world for another person like her, and explores what it takes to love oneself fiercely despite the pervasiveness of ableism.

Hawking: Can You Hear Me?

A documentary telling the remarkable human story of Stephen Hawking. For the first time, the personal archives and the testimonies of his closest family reveal both the scale of Hawking's triumphs and the real cost of his disability and success.

The Tragedy of an Artist

The Tragedy of an Artist, is an experimental short shot over the course of a week. This film is meant to illustrate who Hero Foltz is as a person and his struggles with self identity

I Am Irani

Farhad, a well-known Iranian photographer, was born with a rare genetic disorder known as Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS), which affects the development of the facial structure. Although TCS has made Farhad stand out all his life, his determination and resilience are what truly set him apart.

I Am Greta

Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old student in Sweden, started a school strike for the climate as her question for adults was, if you don’t care about my future on earth, why should I care about my future in school? Within months, her strike evolved into a global movement as the quiet teenage girl on the autism spectrum becomes a world-famous activist.

Asperger's Are Us

For the members of the comedy troupe Asperger’s Are Us, it’s easier to associate with a faceless audience than with their own families. No matter who the crowd, best friends Noah, New Michael, Jack and Ethan have one simple mantra: “We would much rather the audience appreciate us as comedians than people who have overcome adversity.” In this coming-of-age heartfelt documentary, this band of brothers finds themselves at a crossroad. With real life pulling them apart, they decide to plan one ambitious farewell show before they all go their separate ways. People with Asperger’s don’t deal well with uncertainty, and this is the most uncertain time in their lives.

Rainman Twins

This is the fascinating story of the only identical twin autistic savant sisters known to exist. Over 50 years time, Flo and Kay have literally memorized the world around them. They never forget a date or a song, what they ate or the weather on any given day. Like the Dustin Hoffman character in the movie Rainman, their lives are riveting. You'll never forget them. They'll never forget you.

Rookies

HipHop as a language and an outlet for young people: The film follows the youngest class members of a dance academy on their way to becoming professional dancers. Many of the students come from the socially deprived areas of Paris. Accompanied by a pulsating, dancing camera that pulls the audience right into the action, the film negotiates themes such as origins, pains, dreams and hopes.

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.

Beyond Limits

A compelling British documentary following ten amateur athletes as they train for and compete in Ironman 70.3 Swansea. With themes of resilience, inclusion, and mental strength, the film is directed by Raymond Mouzon and edited by 18-year-old autistic filmmaker Sean Smith.

Life, Animated

At three years old, a chatty, energetic little boy named Owen Suskind ceased to speak, disappearing into autism with apparently no way out. Almost four years passed and the only stimuli that engaged Owen were Disney films. Then one day, his father donned a puppet—Iago, the wisecracking parrot from Aladdin—and asked “what’s it like to be you?” And poof! Owen replied, with dialogue from the movie. Life, Animated tells the remarkable story of how Owen found in Disney animation a pathway to language and a framework for making sense of the world.

Rising Phoenix

Elite athletes and insiders reflect on the Paralympic Games and examine how they impact a global understanding of disability, diversity and excellence.

Into the Spotlight

On the heels of a tragedy and the COVID-19 pandemic, a Dallas-based theatre troupe comprised of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are determined to write, rehearse, and perform their 11th annual original musical.

De Platoschool

The Platoschool was founded in Amsterdam in 1983, a primary school for parents who wanted more than just math and language for their children. The founders of the Platoschool had great ideals, ideals that the parents of documentary maker Yara Hannema fell in love with. The children would grow into special people with a high level of consciousness, but the teachers ran wild in their strictness and discipline. There was beating and abuse of authority. The school was discredited and had to close its doors in 2002.

The Universal Language

The Universal Language is a new documentary from Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground). This 30-minute film traces the history of Esperanto, an artificial language that was created in the late 1800s by a Polish eye doctor who believed that if everyone in the world spoke a common tongue, humanity could overcome racism and war. Fittingly, the word “Esperanto” means “one who hopes.” During the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people around the world spoke Esperanto and believed in its ideals. Today, surprisingly, a vibrant Esperanto movement still exists. In this first-ever documentary about Esperanto, Green creates a portrait of the language and those who speak it today that is at once humorous, poignant, stirring, and ultimately hopeful.

I Didn't See You There

As a visibly disabled person, filmmaker Reid Davenport is often either the subject of an unwanted gaze — gawked at by strangers — or paradoxically rendered invisible, ignored or dismissed by society. The arrival of a circus tent just outside his apartment prompts him to consider the history and legacy of the freak show, in which individuals who were deemed atypical were put on display for the amusement and shock of a paying public. Contemplating how this relates to his own filmmaking practice, which explicitly foregrounds disability, Davenport sets out to make a film about how he sees the world from his wheelchair without having to be seen himself.

Children of Darkness

A significant number of American children and teenagers - from all social backgrounds - suffer from mental disorders, schizophrenia, autism and emotional problems, leading them to isolation from society while treating their issues in mental health facilities. But there's no end in sight for those young individuals when they face obstacles and mistreatment in inadequate places under the supervision of careless and inexperienced professionals. The documentary follows some of those public mental institutions and another private center dealing with troubled kids and reveals what's wrong with their procedures, and the irreparable harm they cause in those patients.

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 Assembly

Michael Sheen faces the interview of a lifetime with The Assembly, a group of autistic, neurodivergent, and learning disabled people. Expect revelation, chaos, and a lot of laughs.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Christopher Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care.

Orgesticulanismus

Animator Mathieu Labaye's tribute to his father, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and was confined to a wheelchair.

Mermaid

Documentary that tells the story of Vianney Trejo, a young woman who struggles every day despite her disability. We go through her daily routine, as well as her passion, swimming, where she has consistently achieved triumphs and has been considered for international competitions.

Better Off Dead?

A documentary on assisted suicide, authored by actor and disability rights activist Liz Carr.

In My Blood It Runs

The story of Dujuan, a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy living in Alice Springs, Australia, who is struggling to balance his traditional Arrernte/Garrwa upbringing with a state education.

My Way to Olympia

The film director Niko von Glasow undertakes a journey to athletes, who compete at the Paralympic Games in London 2012. He himself is a short-armed avowed hater of sport who cannot understand how anyone could take on such an odeal voluntarily. Even more since everyday life for people with a disability is most often challenging enough. He meets U.S.archer Matt Stutzman, Norwegian table tennis player Aida Dahlen, German swimmer Christiane Reppe, Greek boccia player Greg Polychronidis and a Sitting Volleyball team. Niko neither spares the athletes nor himself asking questions about life, sport and fears. With an ever growing appreciation for sport Niko attends the Paralympic Games and travels back to the ancient city of Olympia, where everything began and where boccia playing is prohibited.