As we await news of the full program for the Sydney Film Festival‘s (SFF) 2022 selections, the winter fest has delivered the welcome news that the Screenability program is returning for a sixth year.
The purpose of Screenability, which has been running since 2017, is to showcase films by filmmakers with disability in a festival context. It focuses on the participation of underrepresented groups in the screen industry.
Curated by Screenability Programmer Rebecca McCormack, a total of six works will screen in the program. These include Sundance award-winning documentary I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE, which is Reid Davenport’s feature debut. It’s described as a personal exploration of the history of freakdom, vision and (in)visibility.
Other feature films include Kristen Abate and Steven Tanenbaum’s STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT which won the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance, alongside Australia’s own SXSW Audience Award winning drama SHADOW. Directed by Bruce Gadwin, it’s adapted from Back to Back’s internationally acclaimed stage production The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes.
Also appearing in the selection are three Australian short films selected as part of the Screenability Filmmakers Fund for Screen NSW: INSPIRE ME, VOICE ACTIVATED and ALL SILENT DOGS.
Prior to this announcement, SFF has released details of a retrospective of documentarian Frederick Wiseman playing over the eleven days of the festival. They’ve also previewed 22 films including Australian horror film Sissy, Amanda Kramer’s Please Baby Please and hybrid narrative-documentary feature The Plains.
After a delayed program running in November last year, SFF returns to its winter home in 2022, running from 8-19 June at various locations across Sydney. The full program will be announced on 11 May 2022 when all the tickets go on sale via the official site.
