Breaking Down Barriers

Perspektiva, a Russian Disabled People’s Organization, is now accepting submissions for the 12th Biennial International Disability Film Festival Breaking Down Barriers. The festival will take place in Moscow, November 2024. Breaking Down Barriers was launched in 2002 and has screened more than 800 films from 60 countries. More than 40,000 people have attended festival screenings in Moscow, and nearly 100,000 viewers in 30 cities across Russia have attended the Festival Echo. 

The festival aims to educate the community about disability issues and challenges that people with disabilities face in their daily lives, while celebrating the lives and achievements of people with disabilities from all over the world.  But more importantly, the festival features authentic stories that are moving and entertaining, that make you laugh and cry and empathize with the main characters.

“We are all so different, and everyone has the right to self-determination. The whole path of civilization is one from intolerance to acceptance. The Breaking Down Barriers Disability Film Festival breaks down these barriers with enthusiasm, passion, and wit. It helps us to be kinder and more accepting of each other," said Nikolai Lebedev, a well-known film director and the Jury Chair of the 2022 Disability Film Festival.

The Breaking Down Barriers festival accepts the following film categories: Short Narrative, Feature Narrative, Short Documentary, Feature Documentary, Animation, Public Service Announcements, and encourages the submission of films that have been produced by and with the close participation of persons with disabilities.