The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is observed annually on December 3rd. The theme for this year is "Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future." This theme recognises the important role that persons with disabilities play in creating a more inclusive and sustainable world for all. It also emphasizes the importance of the participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes that affect their lives.
Since 2019, the British Council have been working with partners to host five UK-China Disability Arts Forums. Last year in the fifth edition of the forum we provided a moment for reflection and envision, embracing both the lessons of the past and the possibilities that lie ahead.
Following the legacy of the UK-China Disability Arts Forum, one of the priorities of our work moving forward is artists with disabilities and their creative practices.
In Partnership with the Unlimited, an arts commissioning body that supports, funds and promotes new work by disabled artists for UK and international audiences, we are bringing the Unlimited on Screen programme to audience in China, with five short films made by talented disabled artists telling stories of the persons with disabilities. Over two weeks from 3rd December to 15th December, we invite audiences to join us in celebrating the artistic vision and creativity of disabled artists.
Disabled stories are important – our stories help shape this inaccessible world, change attitudes, and raise aspirations.
- Nickie Miles-wildin
Overview
Hen Night（18'22"）
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Director: Vici Wreford-Sinnott
Jessica returns home from a rush-job hen night under threat of an imminent lockdown. Her ‘last night of freedom’ is far from what she, or any of us could imagine, as she is told her care package is to be cut, turning the independent life she has worked so hard for upside down.
Louder Is Not Always Clearer（16'19"）
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Director: Toby Cameron
Louder Is Not Always Clearer tells a story of disconnection, difference and desperation to belong. It is an honest portrayal of a deaf man, Jonny, perceived to be full of confidence and who is outwardly social, but is inwardly vulnerable and at times isolated.
Moving the Image/Moviendo la Imagen（21'03"）
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Director: Emily Beaney and Ana García Jácome
In a collaborative film project between disabled women from Scotland and Mexico, artists Emily Beaney and Ana García Jácome draw upon archives in Mexico and the UK to explore how audio-visual practices can challenge issues of representation, and position disabled women as active agents of change.
No Sleep Just Clouds（14'54"）
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Director: Babeworld
Enter a world of cloudscapes in an installation exploring how neurodivergent people experience creative spaces as audiences, participants and artists. No Sleep Just Clouds investigates the experiences of autistic, marginalised and wider neurodivergent people in the creative sector, and the struggle to thrive and be ‘productive’ under capitalism.
Silent World（10'22"）
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Director: Charlie Dennis
As deadly gas clouds sweep the nation, deaf rapper Signkid struggles with isolation in this dangerous new world. Silent World blends dystopian sci-fi atmospherics with a penetrating character study of a deaf man’s increasing isolation and alienation at the worst possible time. No one is able to communicate with him, and he must find a way to survive.
