Alexander Yellen’s feature “Daruma” made some waves in the industry after it premiered at 2024 Slamdance Film Festival’s Unstoppable Program.Getting into the Unstoppable was an honor itself because that program is an initiative for and by filmmakers with visible and nonvisible disabilities that debuted in 2021, but that feat added a cherry on top when lead actors, John W. Lawson, a double-hand amputee, took home Slamdance’s Best Actor award and Tobias Forrest, a paraplegic, earned a Best Actor Award during the Media Access Awards.“Casting authentically was our line in the sand,” said the film’s screenwriter and producer Kelli McNeil-Yellen. “We didn’t want to cast able-bodied actors to play these roles.”The film follows wheelchair user Patrick (Forrest) who enlists the help of a grumpy neighbor and double amputee, Robert (Lawson), to take his 4-year-old daughter (Victoria Scott), whom he had never met, to live with her grandparents.The public will get a chance to finally see “Daruma” when the film gets a full-fledged release on Nov. 15, McNeil-Yellen said.“We have an eight-city theatrical run, and we have a weeklong run and seven major markets,” she said. “We’re also going to screen in smaller markets as well.”The film is also slated for a second run, mostly one-off screenings, said filmmaker Alexander Yellen, McNeil-Yellen’s husband who directed the film.“(These screenings will be in) cities where it has supporters and big communities of folks with disabilities who are engaged in media representation and have lobbied for us to come,” he said.In addition, “Daruma” will be available for streaming on Nov. 15, McNeil-Yellen said.“So people who want to stream the film at home can do so on platforms like Amazon and iTunes,” she said. “They can rent the film for $5.99 and enjoy.”McNeil-Yellen began tossing around the idea for the script back in 2007.“The question I get is why would I, an able-bodied woman, want to tell the story about two cantankerous guys with disabilities, and the real answer is that most people don’t really think about disabilities until it touches their lives personally,” she said. “We had an injury in our family, and while this story isn’t based on that true story, what I noticed is that suddenly the world was completely inaccessible to them, and all of the media narratives out there said dying was better than living a disability.”McNeil-Yellen didn’t agree with that sentiment and knew, as a writer, she could compose a narrative that she wanted the world to mirror.“So, I wrote a story about somebody with a disability overcoming an emotional hurdle, not a physical one,” she said.The film’s title comes from a Japanese tradition, NcNeil-Yellen said.“It’s a symbolism of the daruma doll that is a Japanese talisman of good luck and determination,” she said.The doll is designed as a mostly round object that rights itself after it’s pushed over, and the saying that goes along with it is “Fall down seven times, get up eight,” McNeil-Yellen said.The doll also is created with white blank spaces where the eyes are supposed to be.“When you get it, you color in one eye, and when a wish comes true you color in the other eye,” she said. “Those themes and philosophies of getting back up and reaching inside of yourself is what I wanted to infuse in this story. The doll does feature in the script, but I don’t want to give it away.”Yellen came into the proverbial picture in 2016 when the two began dating.“Kelli is a published author and has a kids book (“Sleepy Toes”), which was the first thing of hers I read,” he said. “It’s a bedtime book.”After reading that tale, Yellen asked McNeil-Yellen if she had something more “grown-up” that he could read.“She very timidly handed me her script, and within the first couple of pages, I was laughing,” he said. “She came running in and asked if I hated it and I said, ‘‘No, it’s funny.’ And she said, ‘No, it isn’t. It’s a drama.’ and I said, ‘No, it’s a dark comedy. I see the humor in this.’”Kelli McNeil-Yellen is the producer and screenwriter for “Daruma,” a Slamdance film that will get a full-fledged release on Nov. 15 Credit: Courtesy Kelli McNeil-YellenThat exchange turned into a jumping-off point, Yellen said. “I asked if she thought about making this into a movie and said, ‘If you would consider it, I would love to direct something like this,’” he said.The couple made the film outside of the studio system throughout 2022.“Nobody wanted to touch it,” McNeil-Yellen said. “I don’t think they thought a movie that had two authentically cast leads with disabilities would do anything.”Finding Lawson and Forrest for the lead roles after a nationwide casting call helped the film find its soul, according to the filmmakers. “We called for a double-hand amputee, and then we called for a paraplegic,” McNeil-Yellen said. “I had written the role for a paraplegic because that was the injury I was familiar with.”Lawson and Forrest happen to be neighbors in real life, and they tape auditions for each other, and Lawson suggested Forrest to also send in an audition, according to McNeil-Yellen.“Toby said, ‘I’m a quadriplegic. They’re never going to cast me,’ and John said, ‘Why don’t you let them decide,’” she said. “Toby submitted his tape, and it blew us away. He had the emotional complexity and maturity and the gravitas, sadness and joy, everything we wanted on the screen.”But when the filmmakers announced callbacks, they called Forrest first.“Toby called John and said, ‘I got a call back.’ and John said, ‘I didn’t,’” McNeil-Yellen said with a laugh. “But then we ended up calling John and had them read together. And we knew we had our team.”Principal filming in Los Angeles was originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, but the coronavirus delayed the start until 2022, Yellen said.“We had to basically start our process over again, but John and Toby stayed on from the beginning as well as other partners like PanaVision,” he said. “We (also) had disability and inclusion organizations who we partnered early on to help advise us and collaborate with us.”Alexander Yellen is the director of “Daruma,” which will release on Nov. 15. The film is one of the 2024 Slamdance Festival’s Unstoppable films. Unstoppable is an initiative for and by filmmakers with visible and nonvisible disabilities. Credit: Photo by David DinwiddieIn addition to principal filming, Yellen and McNeil-Yellen ventured into Washington state to film the driving sequences and scenic photography, before conducting a weekend of pickup filming on an L.A. soundstage.Yellen picked Washington for the scenic shots because of his experience there as cinematographer for the TV series “Z Nation.”“You have this unbelievable variety of environments — scrub deserts, mountains, lakes and rolling green fields,” he said.Another reason Yellen selected Washington was for the film crew.“I had built this wonderful relationship with this incredible group of filmmakers, technicians and artisans,” he said. “So when I called folks up and asked them to come down to L.A. and sleep on our couch and work on our indie film, they said, ‘Sign us up.’ We had a real family of people who wanted to participate in this project.”Throughout the process, Yellen and McNeil-Yellen, who financed most of the film themselves, found new supporters in the disability community.“Alex and I didn’t have an entry into the community when we first started making this film, and rightfully so,” McNeil-Yellen said. “In past times the community has been distrustful and weary of filmmakers who come in and exploit the stories and narratives.”The filmmakers earned the trust of these groups through working closely with Forrest and Lawson to make sure they accurately captured the film’s narrative.“There were (also) sensitivity reads we did with our partner organizations,” McNeil-Yellen said.The filmmakers took extra care because they knew if the film did well, it would start changing the film industry.“We (could) demonstrate there is an audience and demand for more of this type of content,” she said. “There are 44 million Americans, right now, who identify as having a disability. And, yet, less than 2% of the population is portrayed in film and television. But this population wields a discretionary spending power annually of half-a-trillion dollars.”Screening “Daruma” at Slamdance was only the beginning of an eventual year for the filmmakers.“Things the film does touch on are related to national policy, (especially) things like transportation, air travel, rideshare, parenting resources and the Foster Care system,” Yellen said. “So, I looked into the disability community in (Pres. Joe Biden’s) administration and started a conversation with the White House Office of Public Engagement. And they invited us to attend a celebration of the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was a beautiful and moving event.”A couple of weeks later, the couple received a follow-up invitation to return to the White House and attend the reception for the recipients of National Medals of Arts in conjunction with the National Humanities Medals.“The President talked about Martin Luther King, as a young boy, heard a singer on the radio and referenced him to pursue aspects of the Civil Right movement,” Yellen said. “(Pres. Biden) choked up in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, and that was a reminder of how powerful art is. (As filmmakers), we sometimes forget that we are not only storytellers, but story consumers. So, watching other people’s stories has been so meaningful and motivational to us, and the idea that our film is going to mean something to people who have not seen themselves on screen in this way before is everything.”“We sent a thank-you email, and the response we got was, ‘Even though you and Alex didn’t get an award, that ceremony was as much for you as it was for the recipients,’” McNeil-Yellen said. A few weeks ago, “Daruma” was awarded the Narrative Features Committee Authenticity Award by the Indie Awards, which was newly organized by Slamdance.The award was given to McNeil-Yellen for “honoring excellence in authentic representation of disability on screen.”Seeing “Daruma” heading to the public means a lot to the couple.“It’s the culmination of a dream we’ve had for a long time,” Yellen said. “I was attracted to art because I felt I had something to say and contribute something to the conversation in a way that’s meaningful and can help shape opinions and help the world be a little bit better.”McNeil-Yellen said there is an urgency for showing authentic representation in filmmaking.“This is my vision, and Alex breathed life into it as a director and cinematographer, but the central themes of the movie are kindness to oneself and to others,” she said. “For me, art is a form of rebellion, and I think we need to be loud. We need to show a vision of the world that it can be. We talked about the daruma doll — fall down seven times, get up eight. It’s time to get up. We need this representation. We need these stories. We need these people to be brave. And we have a lot of work to do.”For information about ‘Daruma,’ visit darumamovie.com.The post Slamdance 2024 film ‘Daruma’ rolls out for public viewing appeared first on Park Record.