Must see: Disability films as part of Liberty 2012 at BFI Southbank, on Saturday

We don’t often plug events here at Limping Chicken, but if you happen to be in London on Saturday and you don’t have tickets for the Paralympics, you might be interested in seeing a range of disability films that are both BSL interpreted and captioned. ‘The Hammer’ in particular is well worth looking out for, because it’s a true story about a Deaf American man who is a UFC Wrestler…

Here’s the blurb:

From freak shows to fitting rooms, disabled people have been scrutinised for generations and objectified on screen, fair game for pity or ridicule.

From 1998-2006 the UK led the way in Disability Film Festivals, showcasing the work of deaf and disabled filmmakers on the international circuit and reshaping the way our images are portrayed. Now they are back, bolder and brasher than ever…

The creators of London’s Disability Film Festival, Caglar Kimyoncu and Julie McNamara, return to BFI Southbank to curate the best of the fests.

In partnership with the Mayor of London’s Liberty Festival, we present two striking features and two exciting shorts programmes celebrating the extraordinary talent and imagination of disabled filmmakers from a selection of the Deaf and Disability Film Festivals across the globe. Quirky comic animations, dark dramatic ruminations and revealing documentaries – there is something here for everybody.

The strand consists of two Shorts Programmes that are free of charge but still require booking. Also there are two feature films – Yo, También (Álvaro Pastor & Antonio Maharro, 2009) & The Hammer (Oren Kaplan, 2011).

Yo, También is a romantic coming-of-age drama that sets out to debunk some of the myths that desexualise disabled people while The Hammer is a feature with a deaf lead actor and a deaf production team, based on the life of the celebrated UFC wrestler Matt ‘The Hammer’ Hamill.

For more information and to book, click here to go to the BFI site.

The Limping Chicken is supported by Deaf media company Remark!, provider of sign language services Deaf Umbrella, training and consultancy Deafworks, the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Look, Smile Chat campaign, and the National Theatre’s captioned plays.