Being as it is that April is Disability Awareness Month, Elgin Community College will be playing two movies in the Spartan Auditorium to draw attention to and spread awareness of disabilities in an entertaining and touching way.  These films are very different from most films that people typically get excited over seeing in a movie theater, but they address many important topics and struggles that young people are often forced to deal with.

“A Silent Voice,” a 2016 Japanese animated film, directed by Naoko Yamada, will be playing on ECC’s campus on Thursday, April 5, from 11;30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The majority of the film is centered around a young girl named Shoko who is deaf and is trying to live a normal life despite her disability.  She, unfortunately, is not able to do this because she is constantly made fun of because of her disability. More specifically, she is bullied by Shoya and his friends.  After a spectacle that happened in the classroom, the rest of the students reject Shoya because of his treatment towards Shoko and they drop him as their friend.

As Shoya and Shoko enter high school, they face many trials, together and separately, and ultimately learn that friends form in the most unlikely of places and situations.

“The Way He Looks,” a 2014 Brazilian romantic drama film, directed and written by Daniel Ribeiro, will be shown on campus on Thursday, April 19 from 3 p.m. to 4;30 p.m.  The main character, Leo, is a blind high school student who feels that his family and friends are too overprotective and don’t leave him room to be independent and do the things he’s always wanted to do, like study abroad.

Leo’s best friend Giovana walks him home from school everyday to ensure that he gets there safely. Later on, in the movie, they both make a friend, Gabriel, who joins them on their walks home.  After a while, it just becomes Gabriel and Leo walking home together and a very close friendship between the two develops into something more towards the end of the movie. Though Giovana gets jealous at first because she feels that Gabriel is stealing her best friend from her, she eventually becomes happy for them, and her and Leo’s friendship becomes even stronger than it was before.