Join us for a special Double Feature Shorts selection from Maryland Filmmaker Emily Kranking, originally part of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, many of the cast and creative team live with disabilities and have created these delightful and touching films.

An overprotective family spies on their disabled daughter's first date in absurd ways. Reimagined as the rom-coms and Disney Channel sitcoms she grew up with, Emily Kranking tells an exaggerated version of her first date.

In "Dinner for Six," a young woman with cerebral palsy named Zoey is getting ready for her first date. Her nondisabled family seems supportive as she talks all about him and her concerns. But after she leaves, her family sneaks behind her and goes to the restaurant! The date starts awkwardly between Zoey and Chris, an intelligent man who works in banking. However, the date gets spiced up when one of Zoey’s sisters, named Cassie, pretends to be a waitress, and Zoey catches her family spying on them. Things get more embarrassing when Cassie gives Zoey an edited menu, causing a fight between them over her motor issues and speech therapy. Their mother loudly stops the fight, but then asks Zoey for a cute picture with Chris. Zoey tells Chris that she regrets the date. She tells him that she’s not good enough for him, but Chris insists the opposite, "You’re great as you are!" When Zoey tells Chris how embarrassed she is with her family, Chris reveals that his dad is there. When Cassie questions him about his dad, he tells her his dad is supervising because he’s also disabled. Cassie scoffs at that claim ("You don’t look disabled"), and he tells her that he’s autistic. The whole family (and Chris’s dad) breaks out in celebration that Zoey is dating another disabled person. The poor, humiliated Zoey awkwardly smiles at Chris and offers him bread as our story ends.

Director/Writer/Producer Biography - Emily Kranking

Emily Kranking is a neurodiverse actress, writer, and disability advocate with cerebral palsy. As a graduate of the Honors Acting Conservatory at The Theatre Lab, Emily is one of the leads of the first disabled movie musical Best Summer Ever, which can be found on Hulu, and was seen in Sundance in the short film F.E.R.B. She has also performed at the Kennedy Center. She is also currently going for her Master's in Disability Studies at the City University of New York. Her independent articles recently have been published on Yahoo and The Mighty.