Unique Brooklyn International Disability Film Festival Takes Place
At Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, July 22-24
– Marks 15th Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act –

Brooklyn, N.Y. – The Brooklyn International Disability Film Festival, a juried film festival with full-length features and shorts by and about people with disabilities – the first of its kind to be held in New York City – will take place at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus from Friday, July 22, to Sunday, July 24.

In recent years Hollywood films that have helped destigmatize disability, have included Jamie Foxx’s Oscar-winning performance as the blind Ray Charles, Jack Nicholson as a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder in “As Good as It Gets,” and Tom Hanks as the mentally challenged Forrest Gump.

Further fostering understanding of disability experiences, this Festival is intended to generate dialogue and advocacy that will enhance the quality of life and health of people with disabilities. It commemorates the 15th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the historic legislation that promoted independence and inclusion for people with disabilities.

Co-sponsored by the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled (BCID), in partnership with the Campus’s occupational therapy and media arts departments, the Festival will include full-length films, shorts, and documentaries, giving people with disabilities who make films a platform to display their art to other people with disabilities and to the public.

“The films on disability themes foster a perspective of seeing oneself through a lens supporting individuality and ability rather than disability,” says Anne Scott, associate professor of occupational therapy at the Brooklyn Campus, organizer of the Festival. “There are still many myths, prejudices, and disparities that prevail about those with physical or mental illness and film is a powerful medium to convey these messages and generate change.”

In addition to film showings, there will be seminars and workshops offering forums for dialogue and advocacy. Among the highlights will be an awards ceremony honoring a distinguished ADA advocate. A Wellness Expo will feature displays by vendors of products for people with special needs and disabilities, as well as exhibits and presentations by disability, service, and self-help groups.

Current sponsors include New York Able Newspaper, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office and the Brooklyn YWCA. LIU support includes the School of Health Professions, media arts, Special Educational Services, gender studies, Office of Institutional Advancement and the library. Grant support includes the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.

For more information, call Anne Scott at (718) 780-4507, e-mail her at ascot@liu.edu or visit www.brooklyn.liu.edu/bidff/

Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. Some 30,000 students currently are enrolled at the university’s three residential and three regional campuses, including more than 11,000 at the Brooklyn Campus. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.