This film is part of Free

Special People
Five teenagers get their own back on a manipulative filmmaker in this subversive comedy.
Overview
A filmmaker enrols five disabled teenagers for a film project about the ‘struggle’ they go through every day. He takes them out to countryside and is determined to create a piece of ‘pity porn’, but his collaborators are sick of being treated differently. A humorous encapsulation of the ongoing fight for rounded and authentic representation of disabled characters in film and television.
This short was a precursor to a feature film of the same name, also directed by Justin Edgar who is a leading figure in the UK’s contemporary disabled-led filmmaking scene. In 2004 Edgar founded 104 Films with Alex Usborne and the company has been at the forefront of training a new generation of filmmakers who identify as disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent.
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