Danny Kurtzman (pictured right) stars in and co-wrote the film “Good Bad Things,” which closes this year’s festival. [+] ReelAbilities Festival featuring director and co-writer Shane Stanger
Danny Kurtzman
On April 3rd, the 16th annual ReelAbilities Film Festival returns to showcase emerging talent and captivating storytelling from within and beyond the disability community.
The festival, which runs through April 10, is a national celebration of disability-themed narrative and documentary films, but as always, it will be centered in New York City, with screenings at a variety of venues across the city, including the Marlene Myerson JCC Manhattan, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, DCTV Firehouse Cinema, Chelsea Factory, Museum of the Moving Image and Jacob Burns Film Center, with additional screenings and events available online.
ReelAbilities is arguably the largest disability film festival in the U.S., prioritizing authentic, first-person stories from within the disability community and taking pride in portraying disability responsibly alongside original creativity. With this in mind, this year’s festival will feature two equally thought-provoking, yet ultimately very different, dramatizations on opening and closing nights.
Ezra
First, the celebration will kick off with a New York premiere on opening night at Manhattan’s Times Center. It’s a heartwarming multigenerational story from director Tony Goldwyn about father Max, played by Bobby Cannavale, who forges a deeper and more meaningful bond with his 11-year-old son (of the same name), Ezra, who is on the autism spectrum, as they go on a reckless road trip. The film features an all-star cast, including Robert De Niro, who plays Ezra’s grandfather Stan, and Whoopi Goldberg, who was named this year’s Reel Abilities honoree for her work on many important social issues over the years, while also being vocal about disability rights and her own journey with dyslexia.
In addition to the star names, the film also features the acting debut of William Fitzgerald, a young man on the autism spectrum, playing a faithful version of the title character, and adds to the film’s authenticity by noting that the inspiration for the film came from screenwriter Tony Spiridakis’ own experience raising his own son, now 24, who is on the autism spectrum, and his realization that he could learn to embrace his son’s neurodiversity rather than reject its uniqueness.
In the film’s press pack, Spiridakis recalled, “I realized this wasn’t about my son. It was about me. It took me a long time to have an epiphany in my head that, as a father, I shouldn’t find a solution for this, just like Max did, and that my son just had a neurotic side that was different in a wonderful way. And that changed everything. I wanted to share that story, and I wanted to make it real. I wanted the audience to go on a journey with Max to the point where he realizes that he’ll probably never stop worrying about Ezra, but that Ezra will be OK. Ezra will surprise him in ways he never imagined, and they will find a way together.”
Directed by Tony Goldwyn, “Ezra” stars Robert De Niro, Bobby Cannavale and William Fitzgerald.
John Bear
Good and bad
A far cry from the impact that neurodiverse children have on families, ReelAbilities’ final night screening, “Good Bad Things,” deals with the somewhat taboo and little-discussed subject of online dating with a disability. The film’s protagonist, Danny, played by Danny Kurtzman (pictured above), has muscular dystrophy and runs a struggling advertising agency.
When Danny’s agency tries to win business from a major online dating app, he decides to combine market research with an attempt to reignite his love life, which has stalled after a heartbreaking break-up. On the app, he meets Maddie, an attractive aspiring photographer played by Jessica Parker Kennedy, but will his perception of himself and the world around him as a young person with a disability ruin their budding romance?
“Good Bad Things” marks the directorial debut of writer Shane Stanger, who co-wrote the indie film with longtime friend Kurtzman, and is executive produced by “Rammy” star Steve Way. The film beautifully juxtaposes familiar elements of everyday life and cinema — the romantic comedy formula and the anxiety-inducing world of dating apps — with lesser-seen aspects of the genre: a uniquely physical, deeply likable protagonist navigating life and love.
Speaking on a podcast last month with the Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Association, which represents people living with the same disease as Kurtzman, the first-time actor made the comments: “It’s a big part of what makes me feel good.
“Recently, we’ve realized that this is more than just a film. It’s that we’re now able to share a message that hasn’t been heard before, especially with a disability-themed piece. We see disability content and stories that move us but we don’t feel empowered or positive. It’s always like a flaw or an inspiration. We feel like it’s so externalized from our real lives that we can’t connect with it. I believe that’s just not true. We as disabled people are powerful and perfect in our own way and this is exactly that story. It’s not a flaw. We can do anything if we put our mind to it and we are that powerful.”
A growing impact
This year’s festival will feature 12 feature films and 14 short films. Nearly 60 percent of the films are world, U.S. or New York premieres. 50 percent are directed by women, and U.S.-produced features make up 42 percent of the festival’s feature length films, the highest number ever.
Other notable works during the festival include “LA Lucha,” from award-winning documentary filmmaker Violeta Ayala, which chronicles the early disability rights movement in Bolivia, and “Dear Ani,” which follows Keith Wasserman’s epic 20-year mental health journey that led to his friendship with music icon and Grammy Award winner Ani DiFranco, addressing the important topic of mental health in a highly original way.
The “CODA effect” shows no signs of abating, with 2024 seeing a record number of submissions and selections for films about deafness and the deaf community.
These include Loud Love, which chronicles a deaf gay couple, Alan and Brian, as they attempt to raise two hearing children; Name Me Law, a documentary about a deaf Kurdish boy seeking self-expression; Okthanksbye, which follows two deaf girls as they embark on a transformative road trip; and Rally Caps, which follows a boy who recently had cochlear implant surgery and plays on a baseball team.
Isaac Zablocki is a co-founder of ReelAbilities and a former film producer who helped launch the first ReelAbilities Film Festival in 2007. With the bigger picture in mind, while acknowledging that more needs to be done to be more inclusive of people with disabilities across the film industry, Zablocki feels that things are moving in the right direction and that ReelAbilities should continue to play its part to keep the momentum going.
“These days there are a lot of resources, programs and networks dedicated to making disability-related films that didn’t exist in the past, so I hope to see more of these great films in the future,” he says.
But according to Zablocki, it’s not just about amplifying marginalized voices, it’s also about recognizing audience trends and market forces.
“There’s definitely a greater desire and demand for disability-focused stories today,” Zablocki explains. “People in the industry used to think that disability stories wouldn’t sell, but the reality is that disability stories are interesting and compelling to a lot of people, and we’re really seeing the impact of that.”
Hopefully, by next year, some hidden gems of even more powerful untold stories will be unearthed, but for now, it’s time to sit back and enjoy the show!