By Baiju NT [ October 14, 2009 ]
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AbilityFest 2009: Wednesday special

Logan Smalley's Darius Goes West (2007), Caroline Link's Beyond Silence (1996), Petter Ness' Mozart And The Whale and Sourav Sarangi's Bilal (2009) will be screened today (Wednesday) at the India International Disability Film Festival 'AbilityFest 2009' being organised by the Chennai-based Ability Foundation at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai, from October 12 to October 15. The screening will be at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.

Darius Goes West is the story of Darius Weems, a 15-year-old with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, who had never left his hometown of Athens, Georgia. In the summer of 2005, he and a group of young college students travel across the country in a wheelchair-accessible RV to test accessibility in the United States. Their ultimate goal was to reach Los Angeles and convince MTV’s hit show "Pimp My Ride" to customize Darius’s wheelchair. This touching story shows how along the way, they find joy, brotherhood, and the knowledge that life, even when imperfect, is always worth the ride.

Beyond Silence is about Lara, who has had a difficult but important task during the earliest days of her childhood. Both her parents are hearing and speech impaired and Lara has to translate from sign language to the spoken word, and vice versa when her parents want to communicate with the outside world. This story takes us through the heart-wrenching story of how Lara eventually decides between her parents and her own ambitions.

Mozart and the Whale is a dramatic yet romantic comedy that is not a typical love story. Inspired by  the true-life story of Jerry and Mary Newport, both afflicted with Asperger’s Syndrome. the film follows the life of Donald who meets Isabelle in his routine life. This touching tale shows us how Donald and Isabelle had to lose each other to find themselves and come to realize that love can heal the soul regardless of circumstances.

Bilal begins inside an 8x10 feet partitioned room in central Kolkata. Almost nothing is visible inside. In fact, three-year-old Bilal’s parents do not need any light to see, as they are blind and live almost in darkness. However, Bilal and his infant brother can see. The story beautifully shows how Bilal communicates with them through sounds and touch. The film tells this curious story by observing the little boy over a year and capturing rare moments of sharing love, fun, and hope, the wonder-filled world of Bilal.