Klara Jagovit: disability

Gattaca

brothers 04:19:00

Imagine a world where your genes determine what kind of profession and lifestyle you are going to have. There are no job interviews, no doubts, no dreams. A simple blood test outlines your professional path and there's nothing to discuss. Either you're a champion or you're a loser. You can design your perfect child and this perfect child can be put on the road to success. You can see that nature is full of flaws and in comparison with genetic modifications, it fails to create perfection. But what if your dreams surpassed your inborn abilities and you wanted a better life for yourself? What if there was a plan to deceive the system? Why talent and predispositions are not enough and to achieve what you dream about you need a very strong will, luck, and one or two lies? Gattaca.

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Children of a Lesser God

deafness 04:12:00

Imagine yourself abroad when you don't know the language and nobody knows yours. This is, I imagine, what blind people feel among movie lovers and deaf people among music fans. This is what poor people feel among the rich. People have various points of reference and breaking out of your comfort zone is hard for everybody who lacks something. But what if a talented teacher inspired someone deprived of chances due to circumstances to become a bit more independent and fit in society? What is the language of love and can you overcome a disability, prejudices, and traumas to have a normal life? One of very few films about the hearing-impaired and a beautiful love story. Children of a Lesser God.

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The Peanut Butter Falcon

adventure 11:18:00

Who said that you can't have dreams? And again, who said that these dreams cannot be made true? Rules are only rules because the society established them for more or less rational reasons and some are worth to be broken. You'd think that being born with Down syndrome, rejected by your family and imprisoned in a retirement home can ruin your chances for an exciting future, but the right moment can help you spread your wings and fly. Maybe a genuine friendship is just around the corner, maybe not only you have lost something and need something else, this time with meaning. A beautiful journey of three lost souls who found each other for a reason, good old magic of the 90s movies, The Peanut Butter Falcon. Enjoy.

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Los abrazos rotos/ Broken Embraces

accident 02:03:00

There are some love stories that shaped your life irreversibly. They caused heartache, the change of plans, they caused pain. You know this feeling, you fell in love with the wrong person, the wife of another man, the object of adoration of someone rich and powerful. In such cases, it's difficult to expect a happy ending. But once crashed with the burden of events, can you come to terms with the past? Can you forget the biggest loves of your life: a woman, a film, a vision, beauty, and happiness? Can you deal with the fact that your everything is also everything for someone else? Los abrazos rotos.

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Rain Man

brothers 07:27:00

Relationships with our parents seem to be hard. We wish for the support and unconditional love, but very often we get too high expectations, abuse, negligence, and the lack of understanding. The same is with siblings - it's a lottery game when you're not really sure whether they will turn out to be your enemies or friends. We all need a positive relationship in our lives, but family ties are very often complex and layered. To unwrap these layers takes time and emotional engagement of both sides. Life is also full of surprises. Totally unaware, you can discover that you have a sibling that will change your views on the family conflict and reevaluate all your priorities. A great portrayal of autism and brothers' bond in Rain Man. Enjoy.

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Imagine

disability 05:42:00

A couple of hundreds of years ago the only way to learn about the world was to travel with the first explorers or listen to their stories after they managed to come back. Now it's enough to turn on the TV or watch traveling vlogs on YouTube to see the most distant places all over the world. But some circumstances don't allow you to see. What is more, they don't allow you to see at all, shedding the curtain on what you tend to take for granted from the moment of your birth. How to explore the terrifying reality of darkness, how to learn to feel and sense what is around instead of seeing it with one's own eyes? Finally, how to show the world of blind people by means of a film, which in itself is part of visual arts? Sometimes it's enough to Imagine. Enjoy.

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The Eighth Day/Le huitième jour

Belgium 06:35:00

Very rarely the cinema has the courage to talk about a topic which is hidden behind the walls of social institutions, which is mentioned only when it comes to rationalizing abortion, which is shared between parents in the lonely lifetime of struggle and family support or total ignorance and fight with the world. Down syndrome. In the highly opinionated world of those who made this and that decision, we rarely focus on those who are already around us, and even though different, need to fit in the world and its norms. What if a man who has his personal struggles met a man who had a whole world of different struggles? What if two lonely people found each other in the hostile world of ignorance, hatred, family relations and heartbreak? A gem from the previous century, still adequate and true. The Eighth Day.

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The Shape of Water

disability 06:18:00

If you believe in fairy tales, you know that for everybody there is a second-half reserved in the storage of soulmates. Our task is only to find it, dive into the heap of hay and try to find the needle. But falling in love can surprise you. Your ultimate partner might not be the one you have expected. But stop complaining, just let yourself be carried by fate. You have some skills to complete your beloved and you have some deficits to be by this beloved completed. This is how happiness works and, for some, it can last a lifetime. Unforgettable storytelling, memorable characters, beautiful scenes and interiors, and a love story between a mute princess and a spectacular frog. Some films make you believe in fairy tales, The Shape of Water.

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Breathe

Africa 07:16:00

When you are young you rarely take into account that you will be struck by some serious disease, that you will be paralyzed, disabled and dependent on others for the rest of your life. You rarely await accident and misfortunes. But they happen, teaching you bigger lessons than all fairy tales that your mother read you to sleep, all movies that you have watched and all stories that somehow got to you through the grapevine of family and friends connections. Some things happen for a reason, some misfortunes are there to improve the lives of many others, to pick them up in the lost battle with health. Some stories are there to make us appreciate life and learn humility in our excessive demands and expectations. Some stories also teach us about love. Based on true story of a determined polio patient, beautiful Breathe.

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Amélie

art 05:28:00

Imagine, there are over 7 billion people in the world, each and everyone has a story to tell, having experienced pain and limited by inhibitions of fear, whether it is a fear of the past, people in general, travel or forming a relationship. Sometimes you need a piece of magic to take individuals out of their comfort zones and push them beyond their limits. Imagine Paris with its collection of old and new, imagine a little charming cafe where people flirt under the cover of indifference, imagine Montmartre with its views and imagine people who need a helping hand to forget about their inhibitions and finally start living. A French classic: Amélie.

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24 Wohen/24 Weeks

abortion 01:59:00

When the tragedy happens, you are always there to give good advice, you know better, it will be all fine in the end. Unwanted pregnancy? Of course, you will manage, a child is such a blessing, even though good pieces of advice tend to disappear at 3 am. when you're alone with a crying alarm clock. Disability? You will deal with it, there are institutions which will help you, social services that will teach you how to live, avoiding depression and euthanasia. Cancer? You cannot give up, you have people to live for.

Good motivational pieces of advice are usually from those who had never experienced the trauma you're dealing with. They are from those who will abandon you sooner or later in their busy world of loud opinions and quiet actions. Having a child is a decision for a lifetime. Not having a child is also something which will stay with you for ever. What would you do if you were pregnant with a child diagnosed with a Down syndrome and a serious heart disease? Would you be brave and give it a go, taking into account your religion, upbringing or hopeful wishes for the future? Would you have an abortion? Would you be strong enough to agree on the life burdened by someone's disability? A very important film about the complexity of making a decision. Don't judge. Such a dilemma might at some point concern you. 24 Weeks.

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The Sea Inside/Mar Adentro

accident 04:51:00

It's all fine when everything goes well. You're healthy, happy, you have a job, a great relationship, people who support you in times of trouble and some plans for the future. But there are events that you cannot predict when you start your life path, there are diseases which are incurable, there are accidents whose outcomes make your life unbearable. There are situations which are overwhelming for you, obstacles too difficult to overcome. You never know whether you will win or lose. You learn from your experience and you cannot judge others on the basis of your beliefs and expectations as they cannot judge you.

Do we have the right to die painlessly and peacefully if it is our desire? Do we have the right to finish the most personal journey on our own terms, cutting the ties with everything that keeps us here? Can we, taking into account circumstances, put an end to suffering and unhappiness? Can we decide about someone's death, be it our spouse, child, parent or a member of the family? And can we finally have control over our own death and make an irreversible decision? A story about a personal right to dignity. The Sea Inside.

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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

disability 23:31:00

Life is such a fragile thing. One day you're the king of the world with your plans, expectations, and boosts of confidence. And then BAM! One event turns your life upside down. Yes, it is unexpected. Yes, it hurts as hell. Yes, this is the life, 'Why me?' does apply and you can ask pleading questions as biblical Job, never expecting the answer. You see, some people win the lottery, some lose. And either way, it doesn't make your life any less worth the deal.

Can you deal with your life once you're struck by a tragedy? Can you manage with the irreversible circumstances of your fate, survive physical pain, the lack of control and disability? Can you accept that you cannot be always on top and at times the game of life places you in the losing position? Can you find meaning and optimism in what's left and all the little things that remind you that life isn't over yet, even though for you it might be over? Can you start from the beginning and try again to learn everything that made you once a complete human being? A beautiful film about a life, a fight, a struggle. And love, as without love any suffering hurts twice as much. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

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Blindness

crime 00:35:00

Every winter a flu epidemic hits the unsuspecting citizens, causing long queues at the doctors and a diminished attendance at schools and kindergartens. Occasionally Zika virus terrifies future mothers afraid of giving birth to children with deformed heads. From time to time there is an outbreak of a disease to which there's no cure and the possibility of spreading it over a bigger area is the greatest fear of the government of each and every country. There are still diseases to which we have no treatment, epidemics which wiped out millions from the surface of the Earth. Medical progress might be visible but we are still far from feeling completely secure. Scenarios of tragedies cross our minds from time to time. And what if one day you all of a sudden lost one of your most important senses? Blindness. An adaptation of a novel by José de Sousa Saramago. And a terrifyingly probable scenario.

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The Girl from the Wardrobe/Dziewczyna z szafy

brothers 10:34:00

Have you ever thought why were you blessed with the fact of being born healthy? What a miracle it was that you have everything quite all right, from head to toes you're a healthy human being? And what if you aren't? What if somewhere along the way you had been deprived of limbs or been born disabled, handicapped or seriously sick? Who is to blame for it all? God? Bad luck? Would you rather sit and complain that the life didn't offer everything it was supposed to offer? Would you give up? Maybe we all are here for some reason, so giving up is making someone else give up along the way in these butterfly effect tricks of fate.
We keep our stories alive, whether our lives are long or short, whether we are strong and healthy or we live in our little worlds of comfort, where ability and health mean different things. It's a good story about friendship, brotherhood, and struggle. Sometimes a stranger next door is your biggest friend. Sometimes little stories are the most meaningful. Enjoy.

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The Theory of Flight

black comedy 02:44:00

Who said that being handicapped means having no access to pleasures available to everyone? Who said that once you're way over your twenties, achieving dreams is impossible? Who told us that time is a limit in falling in love, going on a journey around the world, and the idea of a gap year is limited only to young and inexperienced? And, finally, who said that even if you cannot walk, you cannot have sex and fly? An inspirational and great story of friendship and a journey two completely opposite people can go on together. The Theory of Flight.

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What's Eating Gilbert Grape

disability 01:49:00

You don't choose your family. You don't have any influence over your family history, your family members' character, their decisions or views. You tolerate each other for years, you vividly remember your past mistakes, the awkward periods of adolescence, you circulate: bumping daily at each other as if checking whether you are still the same people. You are attached like primary school children, always having each other in mind, and holding nothing but good wishes, old grudges or warm feelings. This is one such complicated family in which love mixes with hatred, responsibility with a wish to escape and start anew, and a bond only those few living withing the walls of one house can truly understand.

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The Village

disability 03:33:00

Civilization brought corruption. It damaged our morals, it made us go further away from the traditional, ordered world centuries of dogmas, rules, customs, and laws forced us to obey. For some, the only way to stay true to one's beliefs is to resign from all of it altogether. But does the world devoid of temptations guarantees a safe and secure environment for everyone? Isn't extreme perfectionism too close to fanaticism and doesn't it create dangers of its own? A thrilling production of my youth. The Village. Maybe your biggest enemy is your closest friend.

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The Black Balloon

Australia 01:17:00

Sometimes you pass them in the streets. Occasionally you know them from the distance, either there is a family member or an acquaintance who suffers from the similar condition. Once in a thousand cases, this is your story. A story of a mother who wished to have a healthy and happy child and gave birth to an individual requiring constant attention. For some, it's a burden. For others, it's a trial and the greatest proof of unconditional love. But every family is a family and a family with autism, disability, and chronic disease is no less a family that an average one. It simply requires a little bit more effort. The Black Balloon.

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Piano

daughters 23:57:00

There's a bond that connects mothers and daughters. A bond very few understand. Years of conversations, memories shared, experiences bestowed trigger something deeper than comparisons and jealousy that in time might arise. And once isolated at the end of the world they have each other, despite bad relationships, despite traumas and stresses of everyday life. Piano is a film about a mother and a daughter. But its sensuality, colonial background, and a difficult but ecstatic romance make it always a film worth our attention. In times when a woman was a commodity, purchased and transferred, mute against her husband's consent, could she have a chance for the true love? Could she win against small-mindedness of her neighbours, harshness of the surroundings, and find passion and fullfillment with another man? Unforgettable Holly Hunter as a woman finally getting back her voice. Enjoy.