ReelAbilities Disability Film Festival, a national film festival dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities, premieres in the nation’s capital area February 1-9, 2012 at six venues in the District, Maryland and Virginia. Presented as part of the traveling program of the four-year-old New York film festival of the same name, the local ReelAbilities Disabilities Film Festival is sponsored by the Washington DCJCC, JCC of Greater Washington and JCC of Northern Virginia.  The ReelAbilities Disabilities Film Festival DC-MD-VA presents award-winning films accompanied by discussions and other engaging programs to bring together the community in exploration, discussion and celebration of the diversity of our shared human experience. Nine different films will be shown throughout the festival--features, documentaries and shorts that present stories incorporating a variety of disabilities including autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, blindness and mental health. 

On Wednesday, February 1, the Festival’s opening night film, Warrior Champions, profiles four Iraq War veterans who returned home with life-changing injuries that they strive to turn into Olympic dreams.  The opening celebration at the District’s historic Avalon Theatre begins with hors d’oeuvres at 6:30 pm followed by the film at 7:30 pm and special guest speaker Richard Bernstein. Blind from birth, Bernstein has spent his adult life fighting for the rights of the disabled. His own incredible story includes professional accomplishments in addition to personal ones, including running marathons around the world, finishing the Ironman Competition and creating and hosting a television show.