Ray Jacobs is a UK based artist who uses the mediums of image, film and movement to highlight the beauty, power and presence in the stories that surround us and are within us.

Ray works as a director and facilitator, creating imaginative and powerful works with a wide variety of companies, performers and participatory groups in particular collaborating with disabled artists.

He states. ‘I aim in my work to create movement and image which steps quietly yet powerfully into the human heart’.

Rays background is in dance and performance, trauma from a hereditary heart condition in his thirties led him to begin creating work away from the stage and create visual stories on film.

Recent multi award winning short films include ‘The Sea Reminds Me’ , ‘Bastion’ ,Four Solos in the Wild and Your Rocky Spine. He is currently touring a new film based installation The Cabinet of Secret Lives based on a collection of stories from American Sci Fi author Jeff Vandermeer.

Ray is currently co director of Shropshire inclusive Dance and performance director of Arty Party a charity based in Telford focused on supporting learning disabled artists share work with the public.

Filmography 
I Saw a Girl (2008) – Director 
Awarded Best Overall Film – Oska Bright Film Festival 2008

The Sea Reminds Me (2012) – Director 
Awarded Best Film – Ablevision Ireland 
Judges Merit Award – Focus Film Festival 
Nominated Finalist – Oska Bright Film Festival. 
Awarded Best Film – Sit Down Shut Up and Watch Film Festival, Adelaide, Australia. 
Sensibility Award – Assim Vivemos Brazil Disability Film Festival 
Audience Award – Premio Cinematografico Fausto Rossano

Bastion (2014) – Director (www.bastionfilm.com) 
Best Film – Meeting Rimini Film Festival, Italy 2014 
Finalist and 2nd Prize Winner – Cinema Touching Disability, Texas, USA 2014 
Best Male Actor (James Doolan) – 7th International Breaking Down Barriers Film Festival, Moscow 2014 
Honourable Mention – Picture This Film Festival, Calgary, Canada 2015 
Best Story Award – Oska Bright Film Festival, UK 2015 
Best in the Fest – Super Fest – California, USA 2015 
Short Fiction 2nd Prize – Festival Inclus, Barcelona, Spain 2015 
First Prize – The Malta Mental Health Short Film Festival – DIGNITY 2016 
Grand Prix Du Jury – Entre ‘2 Marches, Cannes Film Festival 2016 
Best Film – Cinque Terre Film Festival , Italy 2018

Four Solos in the Wild (2016) Director (www.solointhewild.com) 
Best Film MITS Dance Film Festival Barcelona, Spain 
Creativity Award Fiver dance screen festival, Spain 
Best Choreography – Oska Bright Film Festival 
Best Dance Film – SDSUMF Festival Australia 

My Rocky Spine 2019 
Honourable mention – Picture This Film Festival Calgary, Canada.

Show of work incorporating – Bastion, The Sea Reminds Me, Four Solos in the Wild, Tate Modern, London, March 2017.

2019 – Outstanding contribution to Cinema Award – Oska Bright Film Festival

Ray Jacobs is currently co director of Shropshire Inclusive Dance and Performance director at Arty Party in Telford. 

Director Statement

‘I aim in my work to create movement and image which steps quietly into the human heart’.

Natalie Trevonne is an actress, model, dancer, diversity and inclusion consultant and fashion influencer for Patty and Ricky! She’s currently bicoastal traveling between Los Angeles and New York City, and uses her relationship to the entertainment industry as a platform to speak out for more representation of people from historically marginalized groups. She currently serves as the creative director and a cohost for the Fashionably Tardy podcast. Fashionably tardy bridges the gap between the disability community and the fashion industry by telling the amazing stories of some dope fashion creatives killing it in the  industry today!

Dana was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA – grew up in Miami, FL – and is living her best life in Las Vegas, NV!
Her entire career of over 30+ years has been in retail merchandising and when she moved to Las Vegas she took a break from retail and went back to school at UNLV for Special Education. During that time Dana started the first Adaptive Swim class at a local community center which ultimately connected her to the autism community and is now on the board of directors for the local organization, F.E.A.T.
She started working for Zappos, an online retailer based in the Las Vegas area in 2009 and now leads the Zappos Adaptive team focusing on bringing inclusivity to people with disabilities in the fashion industry. Our mission is to provide options of functional and fashionable shoes and clothing for everyone.
My Why “To sense and respond to the needs of others so they feel supported in a way that helps them contribute to their highest potential”

BAFTA Breakthrough actress and ViacomCBS Showcase 2021 participant Shannon DeVido is best known for her roles in Hulu’s Difficult People,Netflix’s Insatiable, Comedy Central’s Delco Proper, and Law and Order: SVU, as well as appearances on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and Sesame Street. Shannon starred in the world premieres of Michael Lew’s dark comedy Teenage Dickat the Public Theater and Samuel D. Hunter’s The Healing. Shannon has also acquired a dedicated following on her disability-focused comedy YouTube channel “Stare at Shannon.” She leads the cast of the full-length independent feature film Best Summer Ever, an award-winning musical comedy which will screen at SXSW in 2021. She leads the cast of the ReelAbilities selection Best Summer Ever, an award-winning musical comedy which also screened at SXSW in 2021.

Rickey Wilson Jr. (Tony Michaels) was born in Fort Worth, TX on Feb 17th. Growing up play- ing sports, he diverted his attention to acting his senior year of high school, and fell in love. After graduating, he moved to New York to study acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Since moving to LA, he has made small appearances on TV shows such as Modern Family, This is Us, Into The Dark (Hulu), and others. He is proud to be a part of this movie, and to help bring forth the message of inclusion for all in Hollywood.

Jerron Herman is an interdisciplinary artist creating through dance, text, and visual storytelling. He’s based in New York City. 

Jerron was born and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where he began his career pursuing performance and playwriting. In 2009 he moved to New York City to study Dramatic Writing at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Continuing his dream of crafting stories to be performed, he then studied Media, Culture and the Arts, with an emphasis in Art History and Playwriting at The King’s College where he graduated in 2013. While in school he was “discovered” by a choreographer who led him to audition for Heidi Latsky, quickly becoming a key member of her company, Heidi Latsky Dance. Jerron has performed at venues like Lincoln Center and The Whitney Museum of Art, resulting in the New York Times calling him, “the inexhaustible Mr. Herman.” As a strong advocate for disabled athletes and performers, he has been a featured model for both Tommy Hilfiger and Nike.

His performances have begun to shed light on an often overlooked niche of performance. He currently sits on the Board of Trustees at Dance/USA . As a writer, Jerron was a finalist for the inaugural Lark Play Development Lab/Apothetae Playwriting Fellowship, 2017. He is a 2020 Disability Futures Fellow, a joint initiative of the Andrew W. Mellon and Ford Foundation, respectively.

Shaylee Atary is a graduate of the “Nissan Native” Tel Aviv Acting Studio and Ruth Dytches Acting for Camera school. In her film “NEURIM” she acts as the main character alongside with Igal Brener and Rita Shukroon Tsarfati. Shaylee was born in 1989 in Rishon Lezion, Israel. As a youngster, she joined the local youth band, then served as a singer in a military band, and studied in “Rimon” music school. In 2015 Shaylee released a debut album – “Be’emet Sheratziti” with songs like “Etzlenu Ba Gan” (In our kindergarden). In parallel, she acted in Television series like “Zaguri Empire” and “Johnny and the Knights of Galilee”.

In 2016 Shaylee went through a severe car accident followed by a long rehabilitation as a wheelchair user. In that recovery period, she was exposed to the world of cinema that holds both of her loves: acting and music.

Today Shaylee Atary is a fourth-year student at the “Steve Tisch School of Film & Television”, Tel Aviv University. In 2020 she got an honorable mention from “David Perlov Film Fund״ competition on her suggestion for a film “I SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS”.

NEURIM is Shaylee Atary’s second year film as part of her studies. Shaylee was mentored by a leading director and scriptwriter Maya Dreifus, her teacher. The film was inspired by Shaylee’s personal story. From the point of view of a woman with a disability, she started to explore the liberation of the soul from the physical body.

NEURIM was selected for the “Cinéfondation” FESTIAL DE CANNES 2020. the film participated at Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival 2020 as part of the international competition, Solidarity Tel Aviv human rights film festival 2020, and was nominated to Ofir’s prize from the The Israeli Academy of Film & Television. The film is part of the ARTE TV channel from 2021 until 2023.

Shaylee specializes in video editing and gradually paves her way as a filmmaker in the world of Cinema.

KR is a visionary leader in the area of disability inclusion and LGBTQ rights. She has been on the forefront of issues blazing a trail towards inclusive design and marketing for almost 20 years. Diagnosed with severe hearing loss at the age of three, she’s made it her life’s work to be a strong advocate for disabled people. As the Head of Brand Accessibility at Google, Brand Studio she is driving innovation of representation for diverse disabled audiences; a segment that historically has been overlooked. In 2017 she was an instrumental part of the team working with Senator Elizabeth Warren lobbying for the OTC Hearing Aid Act of 2017, a new legislation voted into law in August of that year. Last year she was nominated as an ADCOLOR rockstar in 2020 and was recently featured in ADWEEK on how she is leading the way for disability representation in the media. KR continues to lead the way for more diverse representation of disability in media and advertising, mentoring and influencing disability inclusion leaders around the world.

Stephanie is a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Anthropology where she studies medical/psychological and linguistic anthropology. She also possesses a master’s degree in medical anthropology from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Stephanie’s research centers on the everyday lives of Black parents who have children with autism. She is also interested in the process of diagnosing a Black child with autism as well as the healthcare disparities that these families face. Stephanie is interested in centering the Black parent’s narrative and experience as the expert to decenter white ideologies on health, healthcare, disability, and Black culture. Her research stems from her experiences as a Black woman, wife, and mother of two children. Stephanie’s oldest child is diagnosed with autism.