Susanna Freymark
You have until midnight tonight, Tuesday, August 5 to vote for a short film made by Kyogle local filmmakers.
John Cieslak, John Rado and Susie Cornell have a six minute film The Bridge in the Focus on Ability Short Film Festival.
This is the second film Cieslak and Rado have made together.
“The only reason it is at all possible is because of Susie,” Rado said.
“She has been John’s mother for 26 years now. The first film was made in 2020.
“Susie, John and I keep throwing ideas around. Sometimes one sticks and then we make something.”
The Bridge is a touching and frustrating film that Susie and John have been discussing and writing for the past four years.
“Finally, we made it happen,” Rado said.
The scene in the supermarket where Cieslak’s character Danny is shopping features Kyogle’s IGA and its manager. Two women in the supermarket make disparaging remarks to Danny (Cieslak) about disability and his slowness at the self-checkout.
The Bridge is a reminder to speak out. If none of us tolerate hate speech and cruel whispers to those with a disability, the hate voices have nowhere to go.
You may feel uncomfortable watching The Bridge but it’s worth it for the important message. The music enhances the tension in the story line.
The final song is by Brotherhood of the Blues, a band Cieslak was in. They performed the song at Byron Bay BluesFest.
The bridge in the film is at Geneva over the Richmond River.
“The idea came to throw a GoPro off the bridge and the rest developed from there,” Rado said.
The film highlights a shocking statistic — People aged under 65 years who used disability services between July, 2013 and June 2018, died by suicide at average three times greater than the general population of the same age.
“It isn’t easy crossing a bridge. People think it is, but it can be very hard,” Rado said.
Vote for The Bridge here.