FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
REELABILITIES FILM FESTIVAL LANDS IN LOS ANGELES; ANNOUNCES LINEUP
The first ReelAbilities Los Angeles runs October 11-14 and celebrates people with different abilities
Fest opens with Chloé Zhao’s THE RIDER and concludes with Len Collin’s SANCTUARY
LOS ANGELES, CA (August 30, 2018) – The inaugural ReelAbilities Film Festival: Los Angeles 2018 announced today its lineup of narrative and documentary features as well as short films. The festival runs October 11-14, 2018 at locations throughout the city. Tickets and passes will be available to purchase in early September.
For more information: http://reelabilities.org/
Coming to Los Angeles for the first time, ReelAbilities Film Festival is the largest festival in the United States dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with different abilities. Founded more than ten years ago in New York City and now held annually in multiple cities throughout North America, the festival presents international and award-winning films by and about people with disabilities in multiple locations throughout each hosting city. Post-screening discussions and other engaging programs bring together the community to explore, discuss, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.
ReelAbilities Film Festival: Los Angeles 2018 will take place October 11-14, 2018 at locations throughout the city, including Laemmle’s NoHo 7 and The Pico Union Project. The four-day festival will showcase new and classic films, conversations, and artistic programs, with 16 shorts and six features celebrating more than 13 different physical and intellectual disabilities and hailing from six different countries.
The festival is produced by the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability in partnership with the City of Los Angeles Commission on Disability and ReelAbilities North America. Sponsors include Laemmle Theatres, USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, Los Angeles LGBT Center, Mindful Properties, the Writers Guild of America, and The Ruderman Family Foundation. ReelAbilities North America sponsors include the JCC Manhattan and the Dobkin Family Foundation.
“At a time when inclusion has been moved to the forefront of the entertainment industry, issues of disability remain just out of focus,” said Stephen David Simon, Executive Director of the City of Los Angeles Department on Disability. “Now is the ideal time to bring the ReelAbilities Film Festival to Los Angeles. We look forward to celebrating these brilliant and remarkable stores with our fellow Angelenos.”
ReelAbilities strives to include all people and presents films with open captions, ASL interpretation, audio description, and CART (live captioning). In addition, all venues are wheelchair accessible.
Opening the festival on Thursday, October 11 with a blue carpet and gala is Chloé Zhao’s quiet masterpiece, THE RIDER. After suffering a near fatal head injury, a young cowboy undertakes a search for a new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America. THE RIDER premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, picking up the top prize in the Directors’ Fortnight category, and went on to receive four Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations.
The festival will close on Sunday, October 14 at Laemmle NoHo 7 (5240 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood) with the Los Angeles premiere of SANCTUARY, a ReelAbilities Chicago and New York festival favorite. SANCTUARY is a heart-warming romantic comedy where Larry and Sophie, two people with intellectual disabilities, long to be together in a world that does everything to keep them apart. Screening with the film is animated short MACROPOLIS, a charming story of two toys who are thrown away for being different and their adventure to be put on a store shelf.
The festival will also host a special screening of HOW SWEET THE SOUND: THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA on Friday, October 12 at The Pico Union Project (1153 Valencia Street, Los Angeles) complete with an arts fair, food trucks, and live music.
The wildly original dark comedy KILLS ON WHEELS, a tale of two young men in a Budapest rehab center who become involved with a wheelchair-bound hitman, will screen on Saturday, October 13 at the Laemmle NoHo 7. The film has been hailed by critics and was Hungary’s 2016 Oscar submission for Best Foreign Film.
Tickets and Passes
Tickets and Passes will go on sale early September. For more information please visit http://reelabilities.
About REELABILITIES
ReelAbilities Film Festival was initiated in New York at the JCC Manhattan in 2007, founded by Anita Altman and Isaac Zablocki. The festival was the first of its kind to present a series of award-winning films by, about and for people with disabilities. As the festival progressed, screenings continued to take place at multiple venues across the city and all films are followed by discussions that engage the community in promoting inclusion and celebrating diversity, while providing accessible conditions to match the different needs of our multi-layered society.
COMPLETE FILM FESTIVAL LINE-UP BELOW:
