FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:Helen Walsh
707-206-0138
E-mail:diversedisabilitymedia@comcast.net
Phone: 707-206-0138

SUPERFEST XXVIII (28)
Int'l. Disability Film Festival
Gaia Arts Center - Berkeley
June 20, 21, 22, 2008 (Fri., Sat. & Sun)


Magical Alchemy of Relationships at Center of SUPERFEST XXVIII Film Festival

Fourteen award-winning films, selected from 60 international entries, will be shown at SUPERFEST XXVIII, the longest-running disability film festival in the world, on June 20-22 in Berkeley, CA.

SUPERFEST is sponsored by Culture!Disability!Talent! (CDT), a non-profit organization dedicated to mainstream exposure of media that successfully blend Culture, Disability and Talent.

CDT’s Executive Director, Liane Yasumoto, announces the award winning films which were determined after an extensive three tiered judging process involving panelists representing the disability community, educators, and media experts. As to the films, Ms. Yasumoto says, “The audience is sure to be dazzled by the range and depth of this year's award-winning films.” Besides the quality of the winning films this year, for the first time, the vast majority of SUPERFEST award winners are captioned, thus ensuring access to the widest possible audience. Says Yasumoto, “This is a mark of great progress!"

Sponsors

Superfest XXVIII is made possible in part by the generosity of: California Arts Council, Gersten Family Charitable Trust, Hi Fi Club, Gabriel Ledger, M.D., National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA, and the True North Foundation.

Best of Festival

Best of Festival honor was awarded to Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy, Alice Elliot's searing and profoundly moving documentary about disability rights advocates and life-long friends Diana Braun and Kathy Conour. Elliott's powerful, intimate film carries us into these women’s lives to explore the symbiosis that enables them to avoid institutionalization while they nationally advocate for the rights of all disabled people to live in their own homes.

Awards of Excellence and Spirit Award

Two other films earned SUPERFEST top honors this year.

Including Samuel is filmmaker Dan Habib’s meditation on the current and future life of his son, who has cerebral palsy, through reviewing both the stories of older students with disabilities and the dynamics within his own family. The film also explores best practices to help children with significant disabilities experience life beyond their family.

Dragon People (the title reflects that the Chinese words for “deaf” and “dragon” sound alike) follows Louise Gibson, a deaf British photographers traveling through China where she photographs the lives of multi-generational deaf people as they cope with a rapidly changing world. This Rosa Roger’s film is also the recipient of SUPERFEST’s Spirit Award, presented to an outstanding artistic work produced, written or directed by a filmmaker with a disability.

Achievement Awards

Edgy self-reflection laced with humor characterizes the three Achievement Award winners.

Miracle is an adaptation of little person Tekki Lomnicki's ribald play about her evolving relationship with a mother who wants to take her to Lourdes to “cure” her.

Iron Genrikh is Russian director Alexey Pogrelnoy's detailed portrait of an extroverted newspaper editor who proudly survives the Soviet and post-Communist versions of rural life in a wheelchair that’s always in need of soldering.

Multiple is a documentary about Scottish artist and performer Alison Peebles, who says she doesn't want to be seen as someone with multiple sclerosis, but as "someone who acts and directs and sometimes falls down."

Merit Awards

An eclectic group of films dance, slid, wheel, and edge their way into winning SUPERFEST's five Merit Awards.

Slide is a short, whimsical animation from Canada about a disabled toddler's fears of and desires for independence from parental protection.

Phoenix Dance is a soaring tribute to the talent and resilience of renowned dancer Homer Avila, who relearned dance after a leg amputation to receive acclaim as a dancer.

Edges of Perception is an unsentimental portrait of a young girl who discovers that Stargardt’s Disease, the cause of her vision loss, will influence, but not necessarily change, her plans to become a champion runner.

Pushin' Forward profiles James Lilly, a Latino man whose spinal injury from a gang-related shooting has not reduced his goal to be an exemplary father, husband and marathoner.

The Collector of Bedford Street portrays philanthropist Larry Selman, a 60 year-old Greenwich Village resident who manages to avoid institutionalization with a little help from his friends.

Awards for Artistic Risk-Takers and Short-Takes

This year’s Pamela K. Walker Award for pushing the artistic envelope went to Tiresias, an artistic film blending spoken word, text, and dance by artists of diverse ages, ethnicities and body types.

Three short promotional films were also acknowledged: School Love & Class Photo; two public service announcements from Russia supporting school integration; and Sins Invalid, a trailer for a theatrical event about sex and disability.

Public Screening Schedule

Public screenings of the award-winning films will take place on Friday, June 20, 12-5 p.m., Saturday, June 21, 12-5 p.m., and Sunday, June 22, 2-7 p.m., at the Gaia Arts Center, 2120 Allston (one block from the downtown Berkeley BART station) in Berkeley, California. Tickets are $5-$20/day sliding scale and will be sold at the door.“Q & A” sessions will take place with winning filmmakers in attendance. Please refrain from wearing perfume and other scented products.

Saturday Reception

"Meet the Makers" reception will take place on Saturday, June 21, 6-7 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony from 7-9 p.m. The reception and awards ceremony is free and open to the public.

Access Accommodations Available

The venue is wheelchair accessible. Audio description will be provided for all films, along with Braille and large-print programs. The vast majority of films are captioned; check the screening schedule. Sign language interpreters will be present at the reception and awards ceremony. To request interpreters for the film screenings, please contact us by June 6.

For additional access information, or to get a copy of the SUPERFEST XXVIII screening schedule, visit http://www.culturedisabilitytalent.org/superfest/index.html, e-mail: Superfest@aol.com, or call the CDT voice mailbox at 510-845-5576.

Press Contact

To schedule interviews or obtain DVD screeners and photos, please call Helen Walsh at 707-206-0138 or e-mail: diversedisabilitymedia@comcast.net