JCC in Manhattan (and other venues)
334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th St.
February 3-8
646-505-4444
www.jccmanhattan.org
www.reelabilities.org
The third annual ReelAbilities NY Disabilities Film Festival returns to the JCC in Manhattan and other locations throughout the city February 3-8, “dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities.” The 2011 lineup includes eleven feature films and documentaries that examine Down syndrome (Marcos Carnevale’s ANITA and Antonio Naharro and Álvaro Pastor’s ME TOO), brain damage (Paul Nadler’s BRAIN DAMADJ’D . . . TAKE II), mental illness (Ken Paul Rosenthal’s CROOKED BEAUTY), blindness (Lu Yang’s MY SPECTACULAR THEATER), manic depression (Ofir Trainin’s WANDERING EYES), war injuries (Craig and Brent Renaud’s WARRIOR CHAMPIONS), and autism (Geraldine Wurzburg’s WRETCHES & JABBERERS), among other psychological and physical ailments. All screenings will be followed by discussions with the filmmakers, experts, and/or subjects, in addition to such special panels as “Diversity on Sesame Street,” with writer Emily Perl Kingsley, whose son was born with Down syndrome, as well as concerts by Flame and the FREE Players, a performance by Heidi Latsky Dance, “Navigating Disability” and “Seeing with Photography” art exhibits, an interactive Music for Autism program, a presentation by the Our Time Theater Company, and an American Sign Language tour of “Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork” at the Whitney.
Daniel (Pablo Pineda) and Laura (Lola Dueñas) develop a unique relationship in YO, TAMBIÉN
YO, TAMBIÉN (ME, TOO) (Antonio Naharro & Álvaro Pastor, 2009)
Saturday, February 5, JCC in Manhattan, 9:15
Sunday, February 6, Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, 1:00
www.yotambienlapelicula.com
Written and directed by first-time feature filmmakers Antonio Naharro and Álvaro Pastor, ME, TOO is a beautifully told story about a man with Down syndrome trying to make it in the so-called normal world. When Daniel (Pablo Pineda) first shows up for work at a government disability agency in Sevilla, Laura (Lola Dueñas) mistakes him for someone who has come seeking help, not the person who will be occupying the desk next to hers on a daily basis. Daniel does not see himself as a victim, and he is clearly not a charity case; instead, he has earned a university degree and refuses to allow his disease — or, more important, the way his disease is viewed by others — to limit the things he can accomplish in life. Soon Daniel and Laura grow very close, but she is unable to let their relationship reach the next level, regardless of how much they care for each other — and how many times she instead goes to a local bar and picks up strangers. Meanwhile, Luisa (Lourdes Naharro) and Pedro (Daniel Parejo), who both have Down syndrome and are members of the Danza Mobile dance company, which works with people suffering from intellectual disabilities, have fallen in love, but they feel free to express it, even in public, which gets them in trouble with Luisa’s mother (Catalina Lladó). The contrast between the two romances, one of which is “mixed” but both of which are complicated, is well handled by Naharro (who also plays Daniel’s older brother in the film) and Pastor, steering clear of the kind of sappy melodrama that could have compromised the film’s point of view. They deal with the issue of the infantilization and stereotyping of people with Down syndrome with just the right amount of honesty and subtlety to avoid becoming a pedantic message movie. Both Dueñas, an Almodóvar regular, and Pineda, making his cinematic debut, won Silver Shells for their acting at the 2009 San Sebastian Film Festival. Pineda is in fact the first person with Down syndrome in Europe to earn a major university degree, and he is endearing in the lead role, never overly sentimental, and the script avoids treacly moments, as does Guille Milkyway’s soundtrack. ME, TOO will be screening as part of the ReelAbilities NY Disabilities Film Festival on February 5 at the JCC in Manhattan and on February 6 at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington.