Winners of Munich's International Disability Film Festival

Dr. Peter Radke opened the film show and introduced the new festival director, Gregor Kern. He promised that the film festival as initiated and directed by the late Karl Heinz Gruber would be continued and announced a special memorial session for the deceased director. The award presentation was held on Saturday in the presence of donors of the prizes, directors of the films and several actors. First prize (Euro 5000) went to "Simon". The jury was impressed by Simon's struggle for independence from his mother. Simon uses a wheelchair due to a mobility impairment. The 2nd prize was awarded to" Life to Live", a heart warming portrayal of blind children The Polish director got Euro 2500 and a "Münchner Kindl", the icon of Munich. The 3rd prize was awarded to "The Egg," an engaging, lovely story with an actor with cerebral palsy as the hero. The audience-vote went to "Uno mas,uno menos" with a great performance by a girl with Down Syndrome.

Films I reviewed:

DEF is a term of hip hop jargon, meaning something powerful or funny but is pronounced like the English word deaf. Tony, who is deaf, refuses to go to school or look for a job. He wants to be a rapper. His idol is "Ice Finga" a deaf black MC. (Knowing nothing of the rap culture I was unable to guess the implied meaning of the action.)

Mabul, "The Flood," is a very good film of two brothers living in Israel. Tony, a thirteen year old has an older autistic brother, Tomer who lives in his own world of companionship with animals like rabbits or insects. Tony plays with his brother the story of Noah and gets into a brawl with his group when the kids make fun of Tomer. On the day of Tony's bar mitzvah Tomer hears on the radio that a violent storm, is approaching and pleads without success to cancel the bar mitzvah. The storm comes and Tony who has read the story of Noah during the ceremony leaves abruptly and goes in search of Tomer who has lost all his animals in the flood. Tomer is enraged but Tony pleads to be forgiven.

Simon: is a 25 year old with a physical disability who lives with his mother. The film tries to show his longing for independence by actions which enrage his mother. The film is much too long and the symbolism hard to understand. (Chosen for 1st prize to my surprise)

Kado: an Iranian film about a father with his mentally retarded son on his frantic search for work in Teheran. It is a very touching film, depicting the desperate situation of Afghan refugees in Teheran. We are also shown what an Iranian institution for cognitively disabled people is like, where the father places his son when he cannot feed him any more. The film has a somewhat happy ending when father and son are reunited.

One in Three: depicts the reaction of three women when they learn that they have cancer. The choice of pictures is not convincing.

The Chapeau Room: this story is told with rather crude animation of a male strip tease.

The Egg: a young man with cerebral palsy is being treated in a very patronizing way by the waitress of a small restaurant. He appears not to mind but the cook, a middle-aged man apologizes for the behavior of the waitress. He tells the young man that he loves the woman but cannot bring himself to tell her. His disabled guest encourages him and success is achieved.

Kinara: shows the successful life of an especially handsome young man in India. He uses a wheelchair but gets a wife and child. Apparently, the film is used in India to promote integration of disabled people into everyday life.

Bidadari: a very sentimental, sugary, much too long film telling the story of an old man who has lost his wife. He suffers a stroke soon afterwards and moves in to live with his son's family. The young son befriends his grandfather and takes him to visit the cemetery where the old man places a musical box on his wife's grave.

Mama Wahunzi: A very professionally made and moving documentation of Whirlwind Women's project to support disabled women in Kenya and Uganda. The women are operating a production workshop to make and repair their own and others wheelchairs.

Uno Mas, Uno Menos: Lourdes, a young girl with Down Syndrome,is being interviewed by Ana, a journalist. After a while Lourdes turns into the interviewer and turns out to be a much stronger character.

A Life to Live: wonderful clips of blind young children who are learning to live as normal as possible. When asked about their plans for the future, boys want to become pilots, girls want to be doctors etc

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