10 Years of ReelAbilities

In 2011, the ReelAbilities NY Film Festival screened the film Wretches and Jabberers, a documentary about two nonverbal men with autism.

Afterward, the film's stars used electronic devices to answer questions from the audience, but it was the communication between the men and the nonverbal children in the audience (via keyboards or pointing to letters on pages their parents were holding) that festival director Isaac (Yitzi) Zablocki found particularly moving.

"It was amazing," he recalls. "People who do not have a voice are hiding in the corners of our society. ReelAbilities gives them a voice…and an awareness that there are others just like them."

Celebrating its tenth anniversary in March 2018, ReelAbilities came about as a result of several factors—a desire by the JCC to focus on films for social change, the existence of a major program for special needs within its walls, and the fact that many of the films on disabilities were not being screened, Zablocki says. Festival cofounder Anita Altman, who ran a network of disability organizations through UJA-Federation of New York, had wanted to take that work forward through film. She believed that a film festival sharing the lives and aspirations of people with disabilities could raise the consciousness of the community about the value of each person, regardless of ability.

The festival's original goal was to share films with typically abled viewers, but it very quickly became more than just that. Zablocki, who has helmed ReelAbilities since it was established and is also the director of Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan's Carole Zabar Center for Film, says audiences at the festival are split fairly evenly between disabled and nondisabled viewers, proving, he says, "that the JCC is succeeding in its goal to bring the community together."

In 10 years of ReelAbilities, there have been many highlights, but topping the list, says Zablocki, are the associations made between members of the audience and what's presented on the screen. At talkbacks with directors and others involved with the films, "people in the audience speak out about their deep connections. They are coming out at so many levels. They are forever changed because they realized something about themselves while watching these films. Suddenly they realize they are not alone." For Lynn Bartner Wiesel, festival cochair, another highlight is seeing how the community reacts to the film post-screening. She recalls several post-screening discussions at which audience members were upset over issues such as the appearance of nondisabled actors in disabled roles. While there were logical reasons behind such choices, disabled viewers were "in an uproar," she said. "That's the kind of controversy that I like to dig my teeth into," she says.

She was convinced to join the ReelAbilities screening committee four years ago by her friend and JCC board member Jordana Manzano, who stepped down as festival cochair in 2015. "I've always felt that the arts is a powerful medium to convey important messages," Bartner Wiesel says. "I started getting more involved because the films were so interesting—they spoke to a lot of us."

Growth and Learning

Zablocki and the festival's board have seen incredible changes in the past decade. Ten years ago, they had to seek out films to screen. In recent years, they've received as many as 800 submissions annually. As the festival has evolved, so have the opportunities to learn. "The first year we didn't know the blind would be interested in attending movies," Zablocki recalls. "The next year we offered audio description for the films." While many of the films premiere at ReelAbilities, others have been shown elsewhere. Some have become mainstream successes but "most are films you don't hear about," says Zablocki.

"This past year, the quality of films was better than most I've seen—there were great films after great films," he continues. "Every year, we've had to turn down great films. Sadly, many of the films we've shown do not get screened anywhere but ReelAbilities."

Real-world Impact

An "impassioned speech" by Jordana Manzano about the importance of the films shown at the festival convinced Michelle Feig to become its cochair in Manzano's place. She saw its impact firsthand when a friend of hers, a doctor, brought her daughter, a member of the JCC's swim team, to see Swim Team, a film about a New Jersey team made up of teens with autism. At the screening, she saw a former patient, whose physical limitations made it difficult for her to come to the doctor's office. Both this patient and the festival's offerings made the doctor realize how unaccommodating her office was for those with disabilities, leading her to make it more accessible.

Feig is inspired that the festival continues to highlight films with both educative and entertainment value. "I like that the present films are not just focused on showcasing disabilities but on characters that just happen to be disabled because that's real life."

ReelAbilities is one of several programs that was incubated at Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan and expanded past the JCC's walls; others include Adaptations, the Edmond J. Safra Parkinson's Wellness Program, and Shabbat Shabbang Jr. Currently ReelAbilities welcomes audiences in 15 cities nationwide, as well as in Canada, with plans for further growth. As directors of the national program, the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan ReelAbillities team selects the films and sets the model for the festivals in the other cities. Zablocki hopes to make the films even more accessible by launching a streaming site.

The festival's impact spans generations as well. For the past two years, Manzano's son Charlie, now 12 and a seventh-grader at York Prep in NYC, has made a special request of friends and family attending his birthday party--in lieu of gifts, he has asked for donations to ReelAbilities. In his thank-you notes, Charlie shared why ReelAbilities was so important to him: "I love RFF. It shows that having a difference doesn't mean that you can't do something, and doesn't define you."

"The incredible movies curated by our selection committee, expose thousands of people each year to the lives, stories, and incredible journeys of a diverse range of people living with disabilities," says Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan Chief Program Officer Dava Schub. "We at Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan aspire to create a world that is inclusive and enlightens others to understand that we are all better when our lives, our community centers, places of employment and beyond, include people who learn differently, who might look different, navigate life with physical disabilities. This is the kind of world we have been working to create within the four walls of the JCC and, through the power of the Reelabilities Film Festival we have been able to impact a much broader universe with this vision."

Sherri Lerner is the former editorial director at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. She has written and edited for numerous publications and is currently on the staff of the Wechsler Center.