ReelAbilities And Marvels Of Media Seek To Promote Neurodivergent Films

A select few film festivals are seeking to bring out films that highlight those with neurodivergent issues. Both the ReelAbilities and Marvels of Media festivals are seeking to promote media about people on the spectrum, from people on the spectrum. 

ReelAbilities and Marvels of Media run almost congruently, with Marvels of Media wrapping up Sunday the 31st, and ReelAbilities going from the 3rd of April to the 10th. 

One of the films being highlighted at ReelAbilities, coinciding with the New York premiere, is the upcoming Ezra. 

Ezra follows a divorced father trying to raise his autistic son while living with his own father. But when choices have to be made about his son and how he fits into the world, he decides to take him on a trip, in hopes of strengthening the bond they have. The film, helmed by Tony Goldwyn, stars Bobby Cannavale, Robert DeNiro, and William A. Fitzgerald. 

One of the founders of ReelAbilities, Issac Zablocki, had spoken about the representation, both in front of the camera and behind it, of those who are on the spectrum. According to Hollywood Reporter, he’d stated that on one hand, autism is more represented in film than other disorders, but it still doesn’t scratch the surface of full representation, due in part to creators on the spectrum not being given the time of day to tell their story. 

He stated, “a lot of these films do not get the attention they deserve because Hollywood feels that [such a film] is unmarketable, or that it’s doing things differently. But it’s the opposite. It’s doing things differently, and that’s why it’s marketable.” 

Zablocki also went on to say that there has been a shift in where these films are coming from. For a time, they were mostly coming out of Europe, due in part to funding for the films directly from the European government, but independent film studios in the US have become a new outlet for representation. 

The new representation comes from varying types of creative minds, with Josh Sapan, founder of Marvels of Media explaining that “two or three have a creative sensibility, in terms of the work that they do, that would appreciate a creator who comes from a different place and space, and who brings to the making of media something that may be different and elevated.”

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