Canada Vignettes: Bridging the Gap

Orgesticulanismus

January 2008 •English

Animator Mathieu Labaye's tribute to his father, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and was confined to a wheelchair.

Transformation

November 2017 •Arabic

During an ongoing devastating war, a disabled young orphan tries to put an end to his pain. All of a sudden, paranormal activity shakes the world he lives in.

This Boy Suffers from Crystallization

December 2014 •Japanese

The story revolves around high school boy Ayumu Tamari, who has an illness that makes him start to turn to stone when he's stressed. Since he couldn't fit in with his class, after repeating a year, he declared that he wanted to have a "Sparkly youth" as well. To do this, he changed his hair and clothes to be more fashionable, and constantly checked for popular topics to stay in the know. In the midst of Ayumu's life of making a facade, his homeroom teacher and stone-loving geology teacher Kouya Onihara says that Ayumu's stone transformation is beautiful. Ayumu begins to become attracted to Kouya, who starts to give him advice.

NiNoKuni

August 2019 •Japanese

Adapted from the video game series of the same name, NiNoKuni follows high school peers Yuu and Haru who must travel between two separate yet parallel worlds to help save their childhood friend, Kotona, whose life is in danger. In this magical quest complicated by love, the three teens will be tasked with making the ultimate choice.

Limbo

Invalid date •Hebrew

On the verge of losing the last thread of sight he has left, Adam tries to process his loss.

Imagination

January 2017 •English

A paper cut-out stop-motion animation where the protagonist visits an exhibition of Matisse-inspired paper cuts in her pink wheelchair and is transported from the reality of the dull grey world outside into the colourful world of her imagination.

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish

December 2020 •Japanese

With dreams of diving abroad, Tsuneo gets a job assisting Josee, an artist whose imagination takes her far beyond her wheelchair. But when the tide turns against them, they push each other to places they never thought possible, and inspire a love fit for a storybook.

Lo specchio di Lorenzo

April 2021 •Italian

I Want to Win 5th Prize

October 1995 •Japanese

This is a story of a girl born with a bad leg. Ritsuko longs to go to school and make lots of friends, but this proves as not so easy. Her mother is very protective of her, and she is teased by her classmates, because of her disability. Will she manage to keep her smile?

Daisy's Final Goodbye

January 2023 •English

"Daisy's Final Goodbye" is an evocative animated tale based on a true story. It chronicles the heart-wrenching journey of Steven, a PTSD-afflicted veteran, as he grapples with the profound loss of his devoted service dog, Daisy. The weight of this farewell is almost unbearable. As a poignant homage, filmmaker Steven Long crafts this narrative five years after Daisy's departure, celebrating not just her unwavering bond, but also honoring the countless canines who've embraced us as kin.

Horned Cook, Gola

May 2022 •English

A four armed chef goes about his day.

What It Feels Like

April 2020 •English

This flipbook-style animation demonstrates the emotions of people who hear voices

Carlotta's Face

April 2018 •German

We all share the same kind of brain yet everybody has a different view of the world around us. As a very intriguing example, Carlotta vividly explains how a world without faces does look like. She suffers from the miswiring of a tiny brain region that makes it impossible for her to see and remember faces as a complete construct, called prosopagnosia or face blindness.

The Penguin Who Couldn’t Swim

November 2018 •English

An animation about a disabled penguin who lives on a rocky island in the southern seas where she feels isolated from the rest of her colony. She is inventive, resourceful and tough but frustrated about what she cannot do.

Awaker

June 2017 •Slovak

At a time where there were no alarm-clocks, an old men worked as an awaker. Every day he walked the long way from his house to the village until he gets an old shiny bell.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's

July 2012 •Japanese

Six months after the events of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 1st, Fate has returned to Uminari City with Lindy as her legal guardian and is living the life of a normal elementary schoolgirl along with Nanoha and her friends. The reunion between the two new-found friends is cut short, however, when they are assaulted by four ancient magic users who identify themselves as the Wolkenritter. As the motives behind the actions of the Wolkenritter become clear, Nanoha and Fate find themselves in a race against time to stop the reactivation of a highly dangerous artifact known as the Book of Darkness.

All for Claire

December 2011 •English

Lee is a young man determined to win the heart of Claire, a young woman determined to make life difficult for him. Dancing playfully on her crutches, Claire frustrates Lee’s romantic advances, transporting him away to daunting environments where he’ll need to think on his feet if he’s to win her affections. Director Simon McKeown worked with actor Lee Soar and choreographer Claire Cunningham to create this colourful motion-capture animation which was first broadcast on BBC Big Screens across Britain in 2010. Mckeown explores themes of power, control and rejection in the work and originally created two versions with different endings for festival audiences to choose from – ‘win’ or ‘lose’?

Scarred Hearts

November 2017 •Romanian

During the summer of 1937, Emanuel, a young man in his early twenties, is committed to a sanatorium on the Black Sea coast for treatment of his bone tuberculosis. The treatment consists of painful spine punctures that confine him to a plaster on a stretcher-bed. Little by little, as Emanuel gets accustomed to the sadness of his new life, he discovers that inside the sanatorium there is still a life to be lived to the fullest.

My Way to Olympia

October 2013 •English

The film director Niko von Glasow undertakes a journey to athletes, who compete at the Paralympic Games in London 2012. He himself is a short-armed avowed hater of sport who cannot understand how anyone could take on such an odeal voluntarily. Even more since everyday life for people with a disability is most often challenging enough. He meets U.S.archer Matt Stutzman, Norwegian table tennis player Aida Dahlen, German swimmer Christiane Reppe, Greek boccia player Greg Polychronidis and a Sitting Volleyball team. Niko neither spares the athletes nor himself asking questions about life, sport and fears. With an ever growing appreciation for sport Niko attends the Paralympic Games and travels back to the ancient city of Olympia, where everything began and where boccia playing is prohibited.

Stuck on You

December 2003 •English

In Martha's Vineyard, Mass., conjoined twins Walt and Bob Tenor make the best of their handicap by being the fastest grill cooks in town. While outgoing Walt hopes to one day become a famous actor, shy Bob prefers to stay out of the spotlight. When a fading Hollywood actress, Cher, decides to get her show "Honey and the Beaze" cancelled, she hires Walt -- and his brotherly appendage -- as her costars. But their addition surprisingly achieves the opposite.