Disability culture celebrated in Hamilton

12 November 2008
Touch Compass Dance Trust, dancer Bronwyn Hayward, musicians Goulash Archipelago and work by Sandz Studio artists will feature in The Big Picture on 15 November, a highlight event in the Hamilton Disability Pride Film Festival.

The Hamilton Disability Pride Film Festival – a first for New Zealand – runs until 29 November. All events will be held at the Meteor Theatre in Victoria St, Hamilton and include film screenings and a night of comedy with Philip Patston.

In The Big Picture, Touch Compass will present Grotteschi, a powerful duet by Suzanne Cowan exploring the “classical” and the “grotesque” body and how each defines the other. It was described by Raewyn White in the New Zealand Herald as “the standout highlight of Tempo 08's opening week”, and attracted sustained applause.

Bronwyn Hayward will perform Dare to Dream, an interactive dance performance about having the audacity to turn your dreams into reality.

These performances  will be accompanied in the foyer by musicians Goulash Archipelago, along with film stills and an art exhibition, showcasing local Sandz Studio artists and featuring installation artist Gaye Jurisich.

Reel Funny on Saturday 29 November is described as “provocative, honest and witty comedy”. Philip Patston and Greg Walloch poke politically incorrect fun at their sexual preferences and physical condition, and how society and the world around them reacts to both. Patston will also share highlights from the documentary F... the Disabled about being openly gay and disabled.

Winning entry screened

This event also includes two other elements. Firstly, the winner of the Disability Pride Film Competition will be announced and the winning entry screened. Secondly, work by  local artist Zalina Barrington will be displayed in the foyer.

"I'm a disabled granny,  a dreamer with my head partly in outerspace, partly in the past, but mostly in the fantasy world of the books I'm writing," Zalina says. "I'm an extramural art student with The Learning Connexion in Wellington, and my focus is on improving my illustrative work so it can be included in the books I intend publishing in the not too distant future."

Tickets to this event cost $25 from TicketDirect.

The Hamilton Disability Pride Film Festival  was initiated by Chris McMaster, who says he took ideas from other countries and transported them into a New Zealand context.
 
“I did a similar kind of festival in Alaska in 2006, using film to start talking about important issues such as globalisation,” he says. “I hope this festival will be a catalyst for other centres and communities in New Zealand to run their own film festivals highlighting disability culture.”