Directed by: Bård Breien
Norway, 2006, 79 min

A spirited psychologist accompanies a group of invalids to Ingvild’s house where Geirr, her self-destructive husband, has been wheelchair-bound for two years. Geirr, however, rebels against his wife’s attempts to rescue their marriage via positive thinking therapy. A black comedy about dealing with stifling compassion and false sincerity once and for all. Awarded Best Director at KVIFF 42.

Directed by: Geoffrey Enthoven
Belgium, 2011, 115 min

Fictitiously elaborating on Asta Philpot’s real-life trips to a wheelchair-accessible Spanish brothel and his advocacy of prostitution as one sexual-expression option for the disabled, Come As You Are is a likable seriocomedy with assured direction. Winner of the Grand Prix at Montréal and the Audience Award at KVIFF.

Directed by: Hal Ashby
USA, 1978, 127 min

When a US Marine captain is called to Vietnam, his attractive wife (Jane Fonda) suffers from persistent loneliness. But an encounter with a paraplegic war veteran (Jon Voight) turns her life upside down. The three-time Academy Award-winning drama focuses on the endless cruelty that war inflicts on the lives of innocent people even though the armed conflict isn’t presented in the movie.

Directed by: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano
France, 2011, 112 min

A wealthy quadriplegic needs a new personal assistant, and so he organizes a series of job interviews at his luxurious mansion. But what happens when, indifferent to his own well-being, he rejects several qualified caretakers and surprisingly hands the lucrative position over to a jovial guy from the suburbs who only came to ask for a stamp to satisfy the unemployment office? One of the most successful French box office hits of recent years, this lively comedy has the answer.

Directed by: Henry Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro
USA, 2005, 88 min

This Oscar-nominated documentary investigates the lives of the members of rival American and Canadian wheelchair rugby teams who are determined to do whatever it takes to win. The unrestrained spectacle embraces the dissonant sounds of crashing wheelchairs, hard rock music, sentimentality, and even raw emotion.

Directed by: Dietrich Brüggemann
Germany, 2010, 116 min

Any friendship between a woman and two men almost always smacks of rivalry. But can the duel for the lady’s favor be a fair one when Ben is bound to a wheelchair and Christian is his new assistant? A mild tragicomedy from familiar Karlovy Vary guest Dietrich Brüggemann on the essence of true friendship and love.