The film About Sex...

01.10.2009

his is really good news. The State Fund of the Czech Republic for Supporting the Czech Cinematography granted Inventura CZK 300.000 for the making of the film "About Sex..." The film is meant to be an educational tool for people with learning disabilities, who lack information about human sexuality and partnership issues. Also it will draw the attention of general public to a topic that is often disregarded and not well known – that people with learning disabilities have natural sexual and emotional desires which they want to come true as much as anyone without an apparent handicap. In adition to the cinematography fund the film About Sex... has so far received support from T-mobile Czech Republic.

The film About Sex...

his is really good news. The State Fund of the Czech Republic for Supporting the Czech Cinematography awarded Inventura a grant of CZK 300.000 for the film „About Sex...“ The film is meant to be an educational tool for people with learning disabilities who lack information about human sexuality and partnership issues. Also it will draw the attention of general public to a topic that is often disregarded and not well known – that people with learning disabilities have natural sexual and emotional desires which they want to come true as much as anyone without an apparent handicap. In adition to the cinematography fund the film About Sex... has so far been supported by T-mobile Czech Republic. The idea for the thirteen-minute animated film produced by Inventura initially came from Petr Eisner (from the non-profit organization Pohoda) who, for many years, has worked professionally with people with learning disabilities and has devoted himself to their rights and education. Concerning human sexuality, people with learning disabilities are a very specific group. It is typical that they have a small awareness of the aspects of sexual life, relationships and the social norms related to sexuality. Despite their real age, people with developmental disabilities are often viewed as ageless children and those surrounding them have a tendency to "protect" them against the topic of sexuality. Petr Eisner came to Inventura saying that at the moment there is no effective educational method or tool of providing people with learning disabilities with the necessary information. He suggested making an educational film. Lenka Vochocová and Kateřina Mikulcová (both Inventura) then prepared the narrative and the screenplay of the film. The technique of free-hand drawing animation enables the topic to be addressed in a playful and demonstrative way. The chosen format delivers the message with humor and wit, and at the same time, manages to maintain a socially acceptable shape (so that it shouldn't be regarded as pornography or treated as cheaply descriptive educative material). The creator of the visual concept is Josef Fojt, a participant of the film course run by Inventura. Regarding the fact that not only people with learning disabilities lack relevant knowledge on sexuality, but also the general public, has garbled, or even no information about sexuality of people with disabilities, we decided to focus the film on both target groups. The film should provide people with learning disabilities with such information like different aspects of the male and female body and its functions, models of relationships, contraception, reproduction and social manners. The general audience should gain a more realistic view on what relationships between people with learning disabilities look like and how they perceive their own body. The film shows that these people, naturally, have needs and desires, just like others. The screenplay of About Sex... was registered at DILIA in March 2007 and as soon as we announced the idea of making such a film, representatives of many organizations from all over the Czech Republic have been sending us e-mails expressing their interest in this project. We were meanwhile trying to raise money for the film. At this moment it is sure that we will be able to make the film but we are still looking for more funding so that we would be able to pay for the most professional studios and cooperators. We suppose that the Czech Republic is not the only country in the world which lacks an effective educational tool in this specific area so we are ready to cooperate with foreign organizations too. In case you are interested in this project please contact Kateřina Mikulcová onkaterina(at)inventura(dot)org