The 8th London International Disability Film Festival

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Article Date: 23 Jan 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Launched in 1999, the Disability Film Festival has grown in size, quality and impact every year. In 2005 the festival comprised 47 events over five days with audiences totalling 2,600. This year it returns to BFI Southbank with a new creative team and a host of fresh ideas to put it firmly back on the map. The festival has served as a model for other Disability Film Festivals in Finland, Canada, Greece and Turkey and we are delighted that our refurbished venue offers complete disabled access.

Highlights from this year's programme include the subversive yet amusing feature Special People (2007) and the thought provoking documentary I Want To Tell You Something (2006), which examines a family of four who all communicate through sign language even though only one of their sons is deaf. Other titles include a landmark screening of the controversial drama The Silent Twins (1986), buried in the BBC vaults for over 20 years; Coming Down the Mountain (2007), a twisted tale of brotherly love from the pen of Mark Haddon; a Q with the visually impaired film-maker Raina Haig and a workshop on DIY distribution in the digital age. The Festival is complemented with a range of short film programmes from around the world.

To celebrate this year's Festival, the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank presents Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun. This groundbreaking programme tackles a subject rarely addressed in our culture or media: the representation of sexuality for those with physical and learning disabilities. Bringing together 20 dramas, cutting-edge television documentaries and intimate short films, this collection challenges the preconceptions of the able-bodied and demonstrates that disability is not an automatic bar to a healthy sex life.

Highlights for this year

OPENING NIGHT: Special People

A pretentious film-maker finds his attempts to make an uplifting hymn to the human spirit thwarted by the group of wheelchair-using teens he's teaching. Smart, funny and subversive with just a hint of romance for Valentine's Night, Special People is that rarest of beasts; a feel-good comedy that doesn't rot your teeth!

Thu 14 Feb 18:45 NFT1

I Want To Tell You Something

I Want to Tell You Something Ich muss dir was sagen
Four-year-old twins Oskar and Leo share everything. Even a common language their parents struggle to learn. Oskar's deaf, Leo's not, and their hearing parents have decided to raise both boys in what for them is a foreign language: sign language. Over the course of a year, Martin Nguyen's documentary reveals the highs and lows of family life.

Fri 15 Feb 13:50 NFT2

The Silent Twins
Landmark screening of this controversial drama, buried in the BBC vaults for over 20 years. Followed by a Q with Marjorie Wallace

Fri 15 Feb 18:00 NFT2

Coming Down the Mountain
"I didn't plan to kill him… That sounds stupid given everything that happened, but… It's not like I sat down and thought, 'I'm going to murder my brother'. Things just… got out of hand." A twisted tale of brotherly love from Mark Haddon - author of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time - with terrific performances from Nicholas Hoult (Skins and About a Boy) and Tommy Jessop.

Sat 16 Feb 20:30 NFT2

For more information please visit http://www.bfi.org.uk

http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org