The Focus on Ability Short Film Festival is bringing its celebrated lineup of international films and documentaries to Sydney on Sunday 29 September for a special gala screening. Taking place at The Concourse Concert Hall in Chatswood at 1pm, this free event promises a day of inspiring stories, cultural exchange and community celebration.
The festival, renowned for showcasing films that highlight the diverse experiences and achievements of people with disabilities, will feature a curated selection of films from around the globe. Attendees can expect a moving collection of stories that challenge perceptions and celebrate human resilience and creativity.
The Sydney gala screening will include an all-star judging panel such as Paula Duncan, Lynne McGranger, Tina Bursill, Craig Bennett, Amanda Muggleton and Tony Bonner, who will walk the red carpet with nominees from across the world, to celebrate the storytelling talents of individuals with a disability.
Leading up to the Red Carpet Awards night on September 29, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the founder of the Focus on Ability Film Festival, disability field worker Martin Wren about the getting to people’s hearts through film, the moving moments he’s seen over the festivals 16 year run, and his own battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Nick: Being the 16th year of the Focus On Ability Film Festival, I’m curious to know how you’ve seen the festival evolve over that time?
Martin Wren: It was interesting, Nick, I did a presentation for some students at Sydney University and asked them the same question, because they’d been looking at the website and what was happening.
And they said they thought we were being part of a social change. They saw filmmaking, not as filmmaking, but as part of the work towards creating a more inclusive society.
Nick: Has there been a specific experience, or film, or interaction that has stood out to you as the moment you realised that social change was indeed happening?
Martin Wren: Oh, there are heaps. I’ll keep it to one or two. But, if you Google ‘Focus On Ability Mat’ or ‘Focus on Ability Family First’, you can actually do a test to see whether a person is dead or not using those two films.
Because if you take your index finger, and your middle finger, and place it inside of their wrist, and there’s nothing, then there is nothing we can do for you at Focus!
Nick: With you experience in the disability field, have you seen how things like film can impact people by helping them understand people with disabilities more?
Martin Wren: What we’re looking to do is create a platform to change attitudes. I’ve been involved in disability services for the very best part of 40 years, which just means I’m completely institutionalised!
I’ve realised, and we realised as a group, that if you’re going to change attitudes, you have to reach people’s hearts. You have to get to the seed of their motivation. You might see my hands coming in and out of frame. I have Parkinson’s disease, so if I shake, I’m just excited! I can’t hide my emotions.
The other things that became transparent to us was that storytelling is no respecter of cultures, race, or history. Everybody loves a good story. And we’re fortunate enough to be attempting this things at a time when digital movie making has become very cheap. Anybody can almost afford to make a movie.
So, we thought if you’re making a film, you’ve got some kind of commitment to it. You put in all that effort, you want a bit of ownership. You want to see that movie, your message, to reach the rest of the world. And Focus on Ability became a vehicle for that. It is designed to reach your emotions, your heart, because that’s simply the way you movie people.
And we’ve been really successful with that. We get fabulous feedback from people say they didn’t realise how attached or involved, or whatever you want to say. I guess that’s the test for success for us – are we reaching people to change their perspective from the heart?
Nick: The film’s obviously impact the audiences who watch these stories, but how have you seen the festival impact those who make the films? Because I feel that’s just as important!
Martin Wren: Yeah, that would be true. The ease in making a film has increased incredibly. And I don’t mean this to actually put down a new filmmaker, but it’s a lot easier than it was 16 years ago.
I think you’ve also got exposure to a lot of previous filmmakers work, which we didn’t have when we started. I think we’re around 3,500 films now, at five minutes a pop. If you started watching them all now, and you went without sleep, it would take you 38-40 hours, or something like that.
And in that, if I’m being truthful, you’ll find some films that are obviously a work in progress, and you’ll find others have gone on to be shown in other film festivals, and make some filmmakers a few dollars, which I’m quite jealous over! It was my idea and I want a share [laughs].
Nick: How do you see representation of people with disabilities in media today?
Martin Wren: It’s a work in progress. Which is my term for there’s a long way to go. I think it’s a shame because you can see that people’s motivation is good. But you can also see when a show is starting, and their building the characters, you get the gay person, the coloured person, the disabled person. You can almost tick off the stereotypes that are built into films.
They’re doing what they perceive is the direction to go to tick the right box. It should get to the point where someone isn’t hired because they’re an amputee, they’re hired because in the natural progression of the show or film, that’s where they should be.
Nick: I think people will agree in the sense that they want the inclusion of people with disabilities to feel authentic, and not shoehorned in. How does Focus on Ability fit then into the equation in increasing that natural representation?
Martin Wren: Absolutely. When you see a good film, and there are some absolute crackers, it moves your heart. I’m not a religious person, and I don’t mean to offend, but in the Bible, if Jesus didn’t have a story to tell, he wouldn’t speak to people. And that is a profound truth. He knew that you could use stories to get to people’s hearts.
Nick: I read a Q+A you did, where you mentioned your favourite quote is from Winston Churchill, and reads, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” Are people with disabilities the best testament to that quote?
Martin Wren: I think the resilience that is brought about by having to deal with, whether it’s physical or psychological [disabilities], it’s a two-edged sword. It can be incredibly damaging, but it can also be incredibly liberating.
A story I’ve used for a long time is a teacher brought her students to Sydney to see their film on the big screen. And she said the difference to how they were treated in their town was significant. Her boys were the special education class, and this was her terminology, but she said those boys were no longer perceived as the “weirdo retards”.
People now wanted to know how they achieved the things they achieved through the medium, because they wanted to do it too. And that was a bit of a watershed [moment] for me. I thought we should keep this thing going.
Thank you to Martin for his time, and to NixCo PR for organising the interview. The Focus on Ability 2024 Red Carpet Awards is taking place on Sunday September 29 at The Concourse Concert Hall in Chatswood. You can find out more information here.
