Sydney Film Festival announces Accessible Cinema Program

The 2009 Sydney Film Festival will feature a program of Accessible Cinema, with a range of movies exploring disability and access issues. In partnership with Accessible Arts, the Accessible Screening program includes Blind Loves (Slovak Republic), a film examining the ways in which people who are blind find love, A Good Man (Australia), the story of a married couple after the wife suffers a stroke which leaves her unable to walk or talk, and The Horse Boy (USA), following the journey of an America family to Mongolia to see if traditional healing can help their autistic son.

The winner of the Cannes CICAE Award, Slovakian director Juraj Lehotsky’s Blind Loves mixes documentary and fiction to illustrate the challenges faced by people who are blind in finding love and happiness. Teenage Zuzana describes her dream guy, adding significantly, ‘I wonder what he’ll say when he finds out I’m blind’. Miro and Monika are in love, but her parents disapprove not of his blindness but his Romany roots. Lehotsky, in his feature debut, has crafted a compassionate and spirited essay on the nature of love.

A love story like no other, A Good Man follows Chris – the good man of the title – and Rachel, who suffered a massive stroke 14 years ago, which has left her unable to walk or talk. Since then Chris has taken care of his wife and son. Director Safina Uberoi adeptly captures the humour, tenderness and tenacity that sustain this remarkable relationship.

Texan couple Rupert and Kristin struggle to cope with their autistic son, Rowan. The only time Rowan is calm is when he’s on horseback. The Horse Boy follows Rupert and Kristin’s journey to Mongolia, a land famed for its horses and shamans, to see if traditional healing can help.  

For more information visit: www.sff.org.au