'Cinemability: The Art of Inclusion' DVD & VOD: Everything You Always Were Embarrassed to Ask About Disabled People in TV & Film

The fact that virtually no one knows that October is National Disability Employment Month makes the October 5, 2018 VOD & DVD releases of the Gold Pictures documentary "Cinemability: The Art of Inclusion" to celebrate that recognition that much more important. This film being full of movie and TV clips and A-List participants (such as narrator Jane Seymour) meeting the genre ideal of being equally entertaining and educational is the icing on the cake. 

The following YouTube clip of the official trailer for this movie by wheelchair-user producer/director Jenni Gold provides a strong sense of the comprehensive scope of the film in terms of the aforementioned clips and celebrity participants. This promo. having clips from "Freaks" and "South Park" shows that Gold does not pull any punches regarding telling how it is and how is was. 

The overall theme of "Cinemability" is that the portrayal of disabled people in films and television series greatly influences how the general movie-going public perceives people who are different. It is believed that Jamie Foxx, who is well-known for playing blind music-legend Ray Charles, is the talking head who notes that using the media to depict people with a particular disability in a certain way is the first step toward obtaining support for legislation to address an issue that affects that population. Foxx also is the center of a notable scene in which he discusses allowing himself to be temporarily blinded for his Oscar-winning portrayal of Charles; "Ray" director/writer Taylor Hackford provides further insights regarding that film.

Oscar-winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin provides many of the most relatable and amusing ancedotres in "Cinemability." She discusses the positive impact of seeing a deaf character on the sitcom "Happy Days." Matlin further shares many other memories that include her hilarious portrayal of a deaf attorney on the sitcom "My Name is Earl."

A related aspect of this is watching Peter Farrelly and other filmmakers talk about simply not making a disability an aspect of a character. An even more controversial topic that Gold tackles is the practice of using an able-bodied actor to play a disabled character. Beloved producer/director/writer the late Garry Marshall perfectly addresses this by commenting that he solely bases his casting choices on the acting ability of the person auditioning for the role. 

The tremendous time that Gold devotes to finding and incorporating the clips and getting the hardest-working people in show business demonstrates the love associated with this documentary; the degree to which it makes viewers think about disabled people in reel and real-life shows that it pays off.