About this Short Film
Bethlehem College’s I can and I will, just give me a chance (New Zealand, 2021) appears in this year’s Focus on Ability International Short Film Festival. The short touches on autism, blindness, cognitive processing and sensory and physical disability, and explores music, pain and school from the viewpoint of teenagers. Rather than telling a single story, it offers scenes and moments that emphasise ability, resilience and the varied ways young people experience the world. It sits neatly within the festival’s mission to showcase films that celebrate the talents and achievements of people with disability.
Film Details
Film Transcript
My name is. I came from a country in Azerbaijan. It's right next to Turkey, Russia and the Caspian Sea, and I lived there for around 12 years.
And the experience where you were staying — can you just unpack that a little bit?
I was in an orphanage along with 125 to 50 kids, and there were just 25 boys in one way of sleeping.
Can you tell us about your disability?
I have a disease called osteomyelitis, and it's a disease that you get as an influenza. In the first three years of my life I spent under hospital, and so this really kind of affects me in my daily walking. To kind of fix those problems I just take personal or other medication that keep the pain away.
Tell us now about the kahaka.
It's like a small family. It's a community where everyone's sweet, nice and kind of together and all look out for each other. That is the kind of life that I was hoping for in the orphanage. Respecting their culture, I believe this is one of the ways I can join and have fun.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Wilson. I'm completely blind, and today I'm going to be doing a drum solo for you all.
My name's Oliver Jack Davey and I have ASD, also known as autism, autism spectrum disorder.
And how does it affect your everyday life?
Well, in a lot of ways, I suppose, but it's difficult to list things because it's not like I know how I'm different from a neurotypical person. All I've known is being autistic, so I don't know how I differ from a normal person's feelings because I don't feel the normal person's feelings. I struggle with social situations. I get lost in my own mind and sometimes my thoughts can feel like a cage that's constantly shrinking around me and I'll suffocate or get squished to death unless I, I don't know, burst out somehow. I really like drama. I like memorising a script and having to repeat it, because in life there's no script — it's all improvisation, and I'm not good at consistent improvisation. I struggle with conversations and what to say, and expressing myself is really difficult.
Thank you, Ollie, that was really amazing.
Filmmaker
Bethlehem College is the filmmaker behind this entry. See every Focus on Ability entry from Bethlehem College.
