Rehabilitating is an incredibly personal story for me. 2019 was a particularly tough year for my health. I spent the better part of the year stuck in physical rehab hospital, trying to recover basic functions. During one of my months in Rehab I met another young patient like me. I didn’t reach out to her and have a conversation like Georgia and Ash do, but it stuck with me. What may have happened if I had? And so Rehabilitating was born.” – Inez Playford – the director of Rehabilitating.

Not only has Playford expanded the representation of chronic pain and disabled characters on screen. Throughout filming Rehabilitating, Inez Playford challenged the preconceived ideas and structures of how inaccessible film sets can be for disabled people.

“The one thing I’m the most proud of is being given the trust to help share and amplify the voices of disabled and chronically ill people with my work, in the representation in both my cast and crew. Having had disabled people in the forefront of our creative process both behind the camera in HOD roles and on our screen was a non negotiable for me. This project could not have happened without the dedicated support of AFTRS in making this the first fully accessible set and shoot experience come to life. The key to accessibility is asking your crew what they need. We shot for a longer amount of days and less hours to minimise the physical toll sets have on disabled creatives. We took care in ensuring the wellbeing of our crew and continued to work out ways we could make our set a better environment.” – Inez Playford – the director of Rehabilitating.

The success of Rehabilitating has rapidly begun. The film had its World Premiere as part of Sydney Film Festival’s ‘Screenability’ program and its Melbourne Premiere as part of St Kilda Film Festival’s ‘Drama Showcase’ in June.

@rehabiliatingfilm on instagram.

CAST AND CREW INFORMATION
Writer and Director – Inez Playford
Producer – Freya Brunning
‘Ash’ – Mantshologane ‘Gane’ Maile (they/them)
‘Georgia’ – Bridie McKim
Sound Designer – Sharay Armfield
Editor – Chimene Khoo
Cinematographer – Anna McGirr (she/her)
Composer – Naomi Geste
Production Designer – Sheree Tam
Art Director – Craig Bornstein
1st AD – Hattie Archibald
2nd AD – Bassem Koshiry
1st AC – Jesse Phillips
2nd AC – Jubilee Chan and Jacqueline Sharah
Gaffer – Finbarr Collins

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