Ability Foundation successfully hosted the India International Disability Film Festival in July 2005 in Chennai, a port town in south India. The Film Festival was held on the lines of Disability Film Festivals abroad – in London, Melbourne, Paris, Munich, Moscow, Calgary, Toronto & Beirut. The Festival was celebrated over three days and and drew a lot of media attention. The organising committee of AbilityFEST consisted of C.K.Ranganathan - President, P.K.Nair - Director , Jayshree Raveendran - Chairperson and Actor Revathy - Vice-Chairperson.

The Inaugural Function: The Festival Book was released by Ms. Anuradha Mohit, Special Rappoteur on Disability, NHRC. This book contains vital information about the organization, conduct and the personalities involved in the Festival. Comprehensively made, it gives the general reader all that he might want to know about this unique festival, be it information on films screened, the competition films short-listed or the thinking that went into the aims of this programme. The inaugural function which lasted an hour was covered live by Doordharshan

The Festival Screenings:: AbilityFEST turned out to be a unique and inspiring showcase of extraordinary films from around the world – films by, with and about people with disabilities. Over the three days, it offered to the viewers award-winning feature films, documentary films and short films, many of which have never been screened in India. The movies were introduced to the audiences and audience interaction was arranged with the makers of the films. Filmmakers Gregor Kern (of Munich Disability film Festival), Dr. Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar (Devrai), Somaratna Dissanayake (The Little Angel) and Suja (An Encounter with Life Living) were present during the screening of their films and answered questions from the audience.
Abilityfest2005 Screening Schedule.

The Workshop: A workshop on “Films and Disability” was held on the last day of the Festival. Several issues relating to films and disability were analysed. More

The Competition Section: An important feature of the Festival was the competition section. More