New York’s ReelAbilities film festival is the largest festival in the United States dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with disabilities. The weeklong festival is renowned for its wide-ranging international film selection, riveting conversations, and performances, presented annually in dozens of venues across the New York metropolitan area. In 2010, ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York expanded into an international programme, presenting its one-of-a-kind programming in cities throughout the United States, Canada, and South America.
This year’s programme, which runs from 7 to 13 April, will include the documentary Me to Play [2021], directed by Jim Berenson, which follows the work of two actors, John Christopher Jones and Dan Moran, as they rehearse and finally perform Endgame in New York in 2012. The film examines the relationship the actors, who both live with Parkinson’s, find their way to engage with Beckett’s work while accommodating the added restrictions of their different abilities. The remarkable film, which premiered at last year’s Slamdance festival, raises many recurring issues of disability and performance within Beckett’s oeuvre in a heartening and unsentimental manner.
Tickets and further information here.
View the trailer here.
The Samuel Beckett Society 