Daisy Thor-Poet's ‘Will & Able’ Is A Finalist In The NOVA Employment 2020 FOA Short Film Awards

Focus on Ability (FOA) is designed to encourage filmmakers to focus on the ability of people with disability. This year they’re celebrating 12 years of doing just that!

Daisy Thor-Poet started a video production company earlier this year called ‘Tinted Productions’, based in Wellington, NZ. She started this company for a single purpose, to tell stories that have a positive impact and that allow views to learn or discover something new. 

She created this short documentary because she wanted to tell the amazing story of the company Will&Able. She completed the film earlier this year in June, as part of a wider 6 part documentary series she created called the ‘Everyday Changemakers’ series (the series can be viewed here). Will&Able is a sustainable cleaning products company based in Auckland that provides jobs to people with disabilities. Their products are NZ made, eco friendly, crafted with 100% recycled and reusable bottles, all while providing work to a group that would often struggle to find sustainable employment. More info on Will&Able can be found here.

More about Daisy Thor-Poet (Film director) here. Website : https://tinted.co.nz/

You can watch and vote for the film here: 

https://www.focusonability.com.au/FOA/films/1921.html

About Focus On Ability:

Based in Australia, this year’s FOA festival had an amazing 266 entries, including 82 school entries and 61 international films. Following successful screenings last year right around Australia, in New Zealand, Los Angeles, New York, Zimbabwe and Malawi this year the competition received entries from 19 countries. More info.

This could be the richest short-film festival in the world, with over $100,000AUD in prizes to be shared among the winners.

The winner of the International Short film and Documentary sections receive:

$5,000 AUD Cash prize along with special money can’t buy industry experiences.

There is also a great prize for most online votes!

If our local community gets behind us (Most Online Votes), we could win $2,500 AUD.

Voting starts 18 August and concludes 24 August: https://www.focusonability.com.au/FOA/films/1921.html

Voters go in the running to win $50 iTunes vouchers, but you can only vote once in each category. The categories are:

• International Short Film
• International Documentary

Quotes from Martin Wren, CEO NOVA Employment: (FOA was his big idea!)

‘Focus is a constant source of amazement for me. It came as a random thought bubble, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could use the medium of film to highlight the ability of people with disability?” It could change the world!’

‘Now, I’m a Brixton kid – I’m hard as nails when I need to be – but I can guarantee you that I’ll weep at least 5 times when I watch those films. I hear, see and feel people saying things like, “I didn’t know that anyone would ever love me” and “It feels like I’m being destroyed”. I have to go back and replay to check: “Yes they actually said that in my film fest.”’

‘FOA gives us fantastic insight into how society’s attitudes are changing towards people with disability. Not just Australian society, but around the world. I don’t think you can fail to be impressed and inspired by taking ten minutes to see a couple of FOA films.’

https://www.focusonability.com.au/

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