SUPERFEST 2024 FILM SELECTIONS
Superfest 2024 will occur online Thursday, October 17th through Sunday October 20th with in-person screenings at the Exploratorium in San Francisco on October 19th.
Poster for Four Deaf Yorkshiremen's Contest. Two older Black men compete in tug of war in a grassy field while four of their friends watch. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
4 Deaf Yorkshiremen's Contest
UK, 2022 (Comedy, 28 min)
A grumpy friend group of old deaf men enter a Tough Old Deafie contest. After getting entered into the competition against his wishes, Fred takes off. Can the rest of the group find him amid their wacky hijinks? Can Fred make it back home?
Poster for A Wonderful Ride. A figure wearing a pink jacket uses a wheelchair as she crosses the street, facing away from the camera. A somewhat empty city street lined with trees without leaves.
A Wonderful Ride
China, 2023 (Documentary, 28 min)
In this slice of life film, 23-year-old Pan Meihao discusses her life as a wheelchair user living on her own in Beijing, including friends, community, family, and work.
Poster for Dancer. Illuminated in purple and pink light and covered in smoke, a young girl dances on stage away from the camera. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
Dancer
Mongolia/Australia, 2023 (Drama, 13 min)
Gerelee, a Deaf teenage girl, decides to follow her dreams and audition for a dance company despite her father’s protests.
Poster for Diagnonsense. An older man with light skin and glasses sits in a comfy chair, hesitantly looking offscreen toward a window. The light from the window casts over his face with shadows mimicking jail bars. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
Diagnonsense
*Best of Festival - Fiction*
UK, 2022 (Drama, 27 min)
In 1996, Deaf Social Worker Louise meets Patrick, a Deaf patient who has been institutionalized for 36 years and wrongly diagnosed as schizophrenic. Facing discrimination and bureaucracy, Louise tries to advocate for him and encourage him to appeal his diagnosis.
Poster for Existing Patient. A close-up of half a woman's face as she grins. She wears a large black and white hat. The film's title is designed like the name of a medicine on medication commercials.
Existing Patient
USA, 2023 (Drama, 17 min)
A chronically ill woman fights to get her medication approved, encountering endless phone trees, unhelpful representatives, and stock photo families along her journey through healthcare bureaucracy.
Poster for Friendly Signs. A man with light skin and a dark beard signs ASL to two other men whose backs are to the camera. The two men wear green vests that say "hearing impaired" on their backs.
Friendly Signs
*Advocacy Award*
USA, 2023 (Documentary, 21 min)
Tommy Wickerd, an incarcerated man who grew up using sign language with a deaf older brother, seeks to make prison an inclusive place for "his brother's community" by starting a sign language class.
Poster for I Told You So. Underwater, a hand floats just below the surface, its reflection mirrored on the surface. The film's title is written in both English and overlaid in Arabic. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
I Told You So
*Best of Festival - Documentary*
Egypt/Germany/USA, 2023 (Documentary, 27 min)
After years of debilitating period pain and unexplained symptoms, Malak finally gets a diagnosis: she has endometriosis. Despite being so prevalent, the disease has no known cause, no cure, and is not taken seriously, even by her own mother. In "I Told You So," Malak grapples with a tumultuous relationship with her pain, her body and her dreams for the future.
Poster for Luki and the Lights. A anthropomorphic 3D animated robot grasps at their chest as they sit on a bench by a window. They look down at their chest, concerned. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
LUKi and the Lights
USA, 2023 (Drama, 11 min)
LUKi, a charming and upbeat robot known for living life to the fullest, confronts a life-altering ALS diagnosis with the support of his friends.
Film poster for Mo Heart Kyra. The heart is written with the less-than sign and the number 3. Amid pink and orange sparkles, a Black woman with her hair pulled back and wearing a zebra print suit and white bowtie grins broadly. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
Mo<3Kyra
UK, 2023 (Drama, 13 min)
It's prom night, and it's Mo's last chance to ask out the girl of her dreams: Kyra.
Poster for Mobility Rights. A blur of images of a subway station and city street. A simple illustration of a wheelchair next to the title, which is written in both English and Korean. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
Mobility Rights
*Disability Justice Award*
South Korea, 2024 (Documentary, 20 min)
Mobility Rights is a poetic visual examination of disabled people’s struggle in South Korea. It portrays the disabled fights being seen after decades of being denied basic rights.
Two young women from the shoulders-up hold hands. One woman has short pink curly hair with glasses and looks at the other with a humorous smile. The other woman has black short hair with a crochet sweater on.
One Night Stand
USA, 2024 (Comedy, 5 min) *Invited by Superfest Team/Non-Juried*
One Night Stand is about a girl in a wheelchair who is preparing for her first one-night-stand, so she enlists the help of her quirky roommate to learn the art of seduction.
Poster for Possum. On a pink background, cutouts of different parts of people's faces. The film title is written in dark pink paint above the collage. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
Possum
USA, 2023 (Drama, 15 min)
When the leader of an artist residency kills the possum that’s been eating their cauliflower, the residents come to a shocking consensus.
Poster for Sexual Healing. A bright pink vibrator with a bulbous end sits at the center of the poster, with vibration waves echoing outward from it. The poster also features various awards and film credits.
Sexual Healing
Netherlands, 2022 (Documentary, 55 min)
"Sexual Healing" follows Evelien, a woman with cerebral palsy, in her thoughtful and often humorous quest for intimacy and recognition for who she is.
Poster for Sleepyhead. Amidst clouds and a collection of wheelchairs and pill bottles, a young girl sits draped in sheet fabric. She holds up her hands and closes her eyes. Lines burst out from a circle behind her head, giving the image an almost religious flair. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
Sleepyhead
*Innovation in Craft Award*
UK, 2023 (Drama, 10 min)
Highschooler / sixth-former Rae is chronically ill and stuck at home with only her glorious imagination and seething rage for company.
In a black room, a woman with light skin and dark hair pulled back poses while facing the camera head-on. From the neck down, she is covered in body paint of a tree against a blue, pink, and orange sunset. The branches and leaves go up over her breasts and collarbones.
Sukaskieskwew (Strong Earth Woman)
Canada, 2018 (Experimental, 5 min)
A slow, meditative, artistic film about a healing journey confronting, embracing and releasing illness with love.
In a dimly lit room, a black man in a wheelchair sits in a nice brown button down.
Ten to One
USA, 2023 (Comedy, 6 min) *Invited by Superfest Team/Non-Juried*
Daniel’s nerves get the best of him as he and his PCA (personal care assistant), Mark, prepare for a first date, but when bad turns to worse, Daniel calls on his best friend, Alex, to calm him down.
Poster for Thunder Rolls: The World of Blind Baseball. A baseball player wearing a gray shirt shirt and white pants, with his bat in mid-swing as a ball is in the air.
Thunder Rolls: The World of Blind Baseball
*Jury's Choice Award*
USA, 2023 (Documentary, 95 min)
"THUNDER ROLLS! The World of Blind Baseball" follows the Indy Thunder beep baseball team in their quest to win a World Championship and the family they build along the way.
Poster for Tie Your Camel and Trust in God. A drawing of a camel on a desert landscape under a grey sky. The title is written in both English and Arabic. Film credits at the bottom of the poster.
Tie Your Camel and Trust in God
Canada, 2021 (Documentary, 12 min)
A meditative documentary that explores what it's like to be a Muslim with a mental illness.