UK, 2015 · English · B&W and colour · 22 min
Cheer Up, Armageddon’s coming!
Anna, who is chronically ill, is visited by Doreen, a door-to-door proselytizer who makes herself at home and stays for the day, slowly defrosting her non-welcome. Together, they walk in the park, bake a cake and watch an Ingmar Bergman film. Both characters are blind and are played by blind actors, Alex Bulmer and Margo Cargill, in this existential comedy.
Watch Awake
Watch on BFI Player — UK only
Available free as part of Disabled Britain on Film.
Watch on Vimeo — standard version
Watch on Vimeo — audio-described version
About the film
Awake grew out of my interest in making work with disabled performers in which disability is present without necessarily being the subject of the story. The film centres on the uneasy and increasingly affectionate encounter between two women whose blindness is part of their lives but does not define the narrative.
The film subsequently became a starting point for workshops exploring accessible filmmaking. At Filmfest Dresden I worked with emerging filmmakers to develop and shoot a short scene with disabled performers, then explore captioning and audio description as part of the filmmaking process.
Awards
Golden Pelican Award — Mykonos Biennale, Greece
Jury Prize — Superfest, San Francisco
Best Actresses — Breaking Down Barriers, Moscow
Best Director and Special Mention from the Jury — Look & Roll, Basel
Cast and Credits
Written and directed by Michael Achtman
Produced by Çağlar Kimyoncu
Directors of Photography Juan Soto and Zeynep Dağli
Sound Design Mustafa Bal
Anna — Alex Bulmer
Doreen — Margo Cargill
A filmpro production
Festival Screenings
Mykonos Biennale, Greece · Haida Gwaii Film Festival, Canada · Picture this… Film Festival, Canada · Buffalo International Film Festival, USA · Busan International Short Film Festival, South Korea · Tlanchana Fest, Mexico · Montecatini International Short Film Festival, Italy · All Lights India International Film Festival, India · ‘O Curt Short Film Festival, Italy · Together 2015 Disability Film Festival, UK · Seize the Day with Me Disability Film Festival, Serbia · FICAE – International Film Festival, Spain · Look & Roll, Switzerland
Related
Awake at Filmfest Dresden
Workshop and reflections on accessible filmmaking.
Interview with Michael Achtman — Longmore Institute on Disability
An interview published ahead of Awake’s screening at Superfest in 2016.
