GREAT FALLS - A prominent organization is giving disabled people a chance to showcase their creative side for the tenth consecutive year.
A pair of Great Falls women are once again bringing their filmmaking talents into focus as part of a nationwide challenge.
Jenniffer Robinson and Chandra Scheschy are both legally blind, but they’re not letting a visual impairment cloud their creative vision.
The inspirational duo is taking part in the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge for the third straight year.
This year's theme is Romance, and their entry is called Now Then Forever.
“With our particular film, we decided to do the rock band in high school that broke up and then ten years later, meet for their high school reunion,” said Robinson.
Jenniffer and Chandra both star in the film, along with Jenniffer’s sister Satin Larance, with Robert Wilkins doing the narration.
Chandra jokes that her love for films came long ago in a city far away when her grandfather would encourage her to watch Star Wars movies.
That helped feed a passion for theater, dancing, and music which led to the pursuit of a degree in film and a willingness to break barriers.
“It doesn't matter if you're deaf or blind or in a wheelchair or autistic or any other form of disability that if you really want to do something as long as it's not dangerous, like driving a car, especially for us who are blind, you can do it,” said Schesschy.
Jenniffer has always loved storytelling. Her passion for writing, music and acting seemed a perfect fit for this year’s entry.
“We are all stories. And so, you know, everyone's got a story to tell,” said Robinson. “No matter what, whether you're disabled or not. And I feel like it's really important to just tell those stories. Plus, I have way too much energy to sit behind a desk All day.”
The team is not just challenging other filmmakers, they’re challenging themselves. After they learned the theme for this year’s event, they had just five days to come up with a finished product.
“There was a lot of late nights and lots of coffee and lots of soda,” said Scheschy. “And so that's some of the part of doing filming is like sometimes you have to sacrifice a little to get a lot.”
“For me, it's extra challenging working in a new environment with a new set,” said Robinson. “If I'm going to be doing it without my cane, I have to walk around and take a few hours it takes to get used to it sometimes.”
Two years ago, their first film for the challenge was called ‘Service- A Dogumentary’. Last year, they produced a superhero film called ‘Apartment of Justice’ which Robinson says might not be finished yet.
“The superhero one, we thought it'd be fun to turn into an actual web series,” said Robinson.
The pair’s creativity is not limited to just making films.
“Actually utilizing our growing business of Kryodragon Productions, we’re working with our nonprofit organization, the Montana Association for the Blind by doing social media for them,” said Scheschy.
For the film challenge, Jennifer and Chandra say creating awareness is the key, but they are eligible for awards and prizes.
