Project Description (from the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability):

Dan Habib's new award-winning documentary film Including Samuel examines the educational and social inclusion of youth with disabilities. The film is built on the Habib family's efforts to include Samuel, 9, in all facets of their lives, a journey that transforms each of them. Including Samuel also features four other families with varied inclusion experiences, plus interviews with teachers, parents, students, and disability rights experts. Including Samuel premiered in November 2007.

About Dan Habib

Dan Habib is the director, producer, and cinematographer of the new documentary, Including Samuel. The film won the 2007 Positive Images in Media award from TASH, an international group committed to the full inclusion of people with disabilities. The film was named “Best Documentary” at the 2007 Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival, and has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. Exceptional Parent magazine said “Including Samuel is a must see film.”

Habib is Filmmaker-in-Residence at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. Until joining UNH in April of 2008, Habib was the photography editor of the Concord Monitor since 1995. In 2006 and 2008 he was named the national Photography Editor of the Year for papers under 100,000 circulation. He was a staff photographer with the Monitor from 1988–1992.

Between his stints at the Monitor, Habib freelanced and created a multi-media documentary project titled “Teen Sexuality in a Culture of Confusion.” The project was widely disseminated in video, print and website formats (DanHabib.com). His freelance work has appeared in numerous publications, including Time, Newsweek, Yankee, Life, Boston Magazine, Mother Jones and the New York Times.

Habib has been named New Hampshire Photographer of the Year six times. He has been a judge of Pictures of the Year and White House News Photographer’s Association. He was one of 12 photojournalists from around the world to participate in the 1995 World Press Photo Masterclass in Amsterdam.

Habib and his wife, Betsy, live in Concord, New Hampshire, with their sons Isaiah, 12, and Samuel, 9.

“Including Samuel” Screens at Boston International Film Festival April 24

DURHAM, N.H. – The documentary film “Including Samuel,” a project of the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (IOD), has been selected by the 2009 Boston International Film Festival and will be screened on Friday, April 24, 2009, at 4 p.m. at the AMC/LOEWS theatre, Boston Common. A question-and-answer session with Keith Jones — hip-hop artist, disability rights activist, and one subject of the documentary — will follow the screening. Tickets for the single screening may be purchased online at www.bifilmfestival.com for $10 each.

Before his son Samuel was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, photojournalist Dan Habib, who is filmmaker-in-residence at the IOD, rarely thought about the inclusion of people with disabilities. Now he thinks about inclusion every day. Shot and produced over four years, Habib's award-winning documentary film “Including Samuel” portrays his family’s hopes and struggles as well as the experiences of four other individuals with disabilities and their families. “Including Samuel” is a highly personal, passionately photographed film that captures the cultural and systemic barriers to inclusion.

Since the documentary was released, Habib and the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire have shared the film with communities across the country and around the world. “Including Samuel” has been featured on NPR and Good Morning America, as well as in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. The film was previously selected for screening by the 2008 Sprout Film Festival, the 2008 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and the Moscow (Iraq) International Breaking Down Barriers Film Festival. It won Best Documentary at the 2007 Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival and an Excellence Award at the Superfest XXVIII International Disability Film Festival.

The seventh annual Boston International Film Festival opened Friday, April 17, 2009, and will run through Sunday, April 27. The festival encourages and supports independent filmmakers from around the world, and it strives to promote international understanding by bringing a variety of movies to the diverse Boston community. The goal of the festival is to display the passion and unique visions of the filmmakers in an environment that brings all cultures together. This year's festival will screen more than a hundred short and feature films from six continents.

“Including Samuel” is part of the Institute on Disability/UCED, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization at the University of New Hampshire. The project’s mission is to build more inclusive schools and communities through curriculum, training, and outreach. For more information, visit www.includingsamuel.com.

The Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire was established in 1987 to provide a coherent university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. Its mission is to advance policies and systems changes, promising practices, education, and research that strengthen communities to ensure full access, equal opportunities, and participation for all persons.