8th Annual Reelabilities Film Festival In Queens Kicks Off in Forest Hills

The Reelabilities Film Festival kicks off on March 13 and 14th in Forest Hills with screenings and discussions with filmmakers at the Central Queens Y. This unusual film festival Marina's Ocean 2features outstanding documentary and feature films by and about people with disabilities and their families. Directors for many of the films will be present to speak and answer questions at screenings. Films will be screened on Sunday, March 13 at 2 p.m. and Monday, March 14 at noon, at the Central Queens Y, at 67-09 108 Street in Forest Hills.

All films are open to the general public for free, but a voluntary donation of $8 is requested. Tickets and more information are available online at www.cqy.org/reel or at (718) 268-5011, ext. 151 or pkurtz@cqy.org.

 This year’s festival includes an international array of films. On Sunday, March 13, at 2 p.m., the festival will showcase a powerful documentary about gifted young people with social difficulties or with cognitive or learning disabilities. This moving film follows the personal journeys of these students and features interviews with the students, their parents, teachers, and therapists. This feature length film will be followed by a discussion with director Thomas Ropelewsky, and will be accompanied by two short films about the additional difficulties for young people with disabilities who want to date.

On Monday, May 14, at noon, the festival will feature an afternoon of outstanding short films, both narrative and documentary, on disabilities and personal and family relationships. Many of the films treat the topic with humor. By engaging film lovers and audiences from all walks of life, the Reelablities Film Festival brings communities together to celebrate diversity and inclusion. The festival is part of a movement to bring awareness and appreciation to the experiences and stories of people living and thriving with disabilities – building on the cultural shift that puts complex images of people with disabilities into the foreground of film.

More information about the Reelabilities Film Festival is available at 718 268-5011, ext. 151, or online at www.cqy.org/reel or at (718) 268-5011 ext. 151, or pkurtz@cqy.org.  The Central Queens YM&YWHA is a non-profit community center offering recreational, educational, cultural and social events to enhance the quality of life in the Central Queens community. The Y is an agency of UJA- Federation.

6th NY Reelabilities Film Festival Comes to Queens

 Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

The Central Queens Y will host the 6th Annual NY Reelabilities Film Festival on Sunday, March 9, and Monday, March 10 in Forest Hills.  The Reelabilities Film Festival, a film festival touring major cities across the country, will feature three films on living with disabilities at screenings over two days in Queens.  These rich and moving films are about the human experience, rather than about disabilities. Discussions follow each film, with speakers such as the director and lead actor of two films.  The festival plays at the Central Queens YM & YWHA, at 67-09 108 Street in Forest Hills.  Tickets and information are available online at www.cqy.org/tickets or by calling (718 268-5011, ext. 151.  All films are open to the general public, with an $8 donation requested.

Gabrielle

Eerily reminiscent of the recent tragic story of Avonte Oquendo, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors will be shown on Sunday, March 9, at 11 a.m.  Set in Queens during Hurricane Sandy, this powerful film tells the story of an autistic boy who runs away from home, but is found.  On Sunday afternoon, March 9, at 2 p.m. the festival features Gabrielle, an uplifting story about love and the redemptive powers of music among young people with developmental disabilities and living in a group home. On Monday, March 10, the festival continues with a screening of Do You Believe in Love, a film about a matchmaker whose tough love style of matchmaking brings together people with disabilities to find soul mates and partners through life.

The ReelAbilities Film Festival is the largest festival in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with disabilities. Post-screening discussions bring out the issues in each film and bring together the community to explore, discuss, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.  The CQY festival also includes an unusual photographic exhibit, the Pearls Project, a groundbreaking exhibit featuring young people in disabilities programs throughout Queens.