06 06 2019 - Media release ABC and Screen Australia announce DisRupted films
ABC and Screen Australia are pleased to announce the three successful films selected for DisRupted following a nation-wide call out in October 2018.
The films are all led by young Australian creatives with disability and supported by some of Australia's best production companies with the broadcast on ABC ME set to premiere on the International Day of People with Disability, 3rd December 2019. Australian kids will be drawn into the funny and clever stories that are full of heart and capture what it's like to be a young person with disability in Australia.
DisRupted provides these talented emerging filmmakers a career changing opportunity to devise and lead the creative authorship of their film, empowering them to develop their skills as storytellers and deliver authentic stories for audiences. The films provide the filmmakers with the opportunity to disrupt and reframe how disability is understood.
All three films explore universal themes through unique perspectives: newly discovered independence, finding your own voice, the power of friendship and your relationship to the world around you. Creator and director Johanna Garvin draws on her own experiences in Rocky and Me, a dramatised telling of when eleven-year-old Stella gets her first wheelchair Rocky and with it a new sense of freedom. And Then Something Changed, created by Eliza Hull, tells the story of a happy-go-lucky eight-year-old Louis who has Achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, and wakes up to what he thinks will be just another normal school day but for some strange reason the world around him just isn't working! The Legend of Burnout Barry, created and directed by Isaac Elliot, follows speed demon and record holder Josh "Wheely" Wilson who learns that there's someone in town faster than him, setting him on a course to challenge the elusive and legendary Burnout Barry to a race.
Libbie Doherty, ABC Head of Children's Content said: The ABC is so proud to be working with these talented creators who bring fresh perspectives, enthusiasm in spades and a love of filmmaking to their stellar projects. The films are not only imaginative and entertaining but also promise to challenge young Australians to reflect on the experience of disability and how it is understood. We can't wait to share and celebrate these films with kids on 3rd December, the International Day of People with Disability
Nerida Moore, Head of Development at Screen Australia said: What makes this initiative so important is that it gives creatives with disability the opportunity to tell their stories in their own way. These films are insightful and address themes of empowerment, accessibility, friendship and inclusion. It's vital that stories on our screens reflect the diversity of the world around us and we are proud to partner with the ABC to support these filmmakers to tell these powerful stories.
DisRupted is an ABC and Screen Australia initiated content program, the creators are supported by experienced industry filmmakers CJZ, Sticky Pictures and LateNite Films to realise their creative vision. ABC and Screen Australia Executives will provide editorial guidance and support including Jan Stradling, Anna Allbury and Natalie Robinson-Hurst for ABC Children's and Ester Harding from Screen Australia.
As part of the ABC's International Day of People with Disability celebrations DisRupted films will premiere 3rd December on ABC ME and the ABC ME app.
For more information, please visit the website www.abc.net.au/disrupted
DisRupted synopses
Rocky and Me
Brought to us by Johanna Garvin, Holly Lyons and CJZ, Rocky and Me follows the story of eleven-year-old Stella who gets her first wheelchair, and along with it, her independence. Stella names her first set of wheels "Rocky.
This wheelchair means Stella can finally keep up with her mates - Rocky gives her a sense of freedom and confidence she's never experienced before. Stella is a passionate swimmer, but until now she only swims in secret. The new lifeguard, Roxie, offers to coach her - and Stella feels like she has something to prove to her classmates. Based on the true misadventures of co-creator Johanna Garvin, Rocky and Me is an empowering story with a universal message - nothing is impossible!
Production Info
Creative Team: Johanna Garvin: Co-Creator, Co-Writer, Co-Producer, Director, Holly Lyons: Co-Writer, Co-Creator, Script Producer, Claire Tonkin: Executive Producer (CJZ), Toni Malone: Director of Production (CJZ) and Selina Forbes: Production Supervisor (CJZ).
And Then Something Changed
Eight-year-old Louis wakes up to what he thinks is going to be just another normal school day, but something has changed. Gone are the motorised backpacks, electric stairs, self-dressing clothes and elevating floors that Louis relies on. In this film we discover what it s like to be a child with Achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, and what it s like to navigate a world that isn t built for you. Portraying a realistic and un-sensationalised representation of a day in the life of Louis through his reflections explores a present-day world where accessibility is still an issue.
Production Info
Main Cast: Theo Watson-Bonnice
Creative Team: Keiran Watson-Bonnice: Creator, Director, Writer, Eliza Hull: Creator, Producer, Additional Writing, Donna Andrews and Stu Connolly: Executive Producers, Hermione Merry: Additional Writing, Carly Myers: Script Consultant, Matthew Myers: Art Department Assistant.
The Legend of Burnout Barry
Wheely, Brent and Shay are an inseparable trio of teenagers, hell bent on having a good time and pushing the limits of what s possible. When speed demon and record holder Josh Wheely Wilson learns that there might be someone in town faster than him, he sets about
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
06 06 2019 - Media release ABC and Screen Australia announce DisRupted films 
