Being Michelle (English Open Captions w/Closed Audio Description)
Available screening types
Virtual
On-demand
In-person
Available until
Jan 01, 2026
Speakers Available
Available in
Worldwide
Brought to you by
Orange Kite Productions
About the film
BEING MICHELLE is an award-winning feature-length documentary film about a deaf woman with autism who survived incarceration and abuse and now uses her artwork to depict the trauma she survived and heal from her past.
English Audio Description is available upon request to your screening host.
Genre
Documentary
Runtime
1h 20m
Released
2022
Director
Atin Mehra
Producer
Mae Thornton Mehra, Atin Mehra
Executive Producer
Rajiv & Priti Sanghvi, Delbert Whetter, Doug Blush
Cast
Michelle Romaine Ricks, Kim Law, Bob Law
Awards & recognition
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Nominated Best Feature Documentary
Cleveland International Film Festival
Nominated Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Competition
Florida Film Festival
Winner Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
Maine Deaf Film Festival
Winner Best of Festival & Best Feature Documentary
Flicker's Rhode Island International Film Festival
Winner First Prize Best Feature Documentary
Bend Film Festival
Nomination Best Feature Documentary
Heartland International Film Festival
Nomination Best Feature Documentary
Awareness Film Festival
Winner Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary
Ojai Film Festival
Winner Grand Jury Award Feature Documentary
Rocky Mountain Deaf Film Festival
Winner Honorable Feature Film
InJustice For All Film Festival International
Winner Impact Award
Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema
Winner Golden Era Humanitarian Award Documentary
Nevada City Film Festival
Winner Best Documentary Feature
Festival Inclus Barcelona
Winner Mencio Especial Inclus 2023
ReelAbilities New York
Official Selection
Trauma Research Foundation Film Festival
Official Selection
SignLight International Film Festival
Winner Best Documentary Feature
Clin d'oeil International Film Festival
Winner Best Documentary Feature
What people are saying
‘I believe that this film should be mandatory viewing for everyone in every court system in this nation. Michelle's story tells the story of the devastating impact of solitary confinement, the devastating impact of being uniquely vulnerable in prison and jail systems because you are a person with disabilities, and again, so resoundingly, the fact that we don't take time to communicate with each other and that just results in misunderstandings that rob people like Michelle of decades of their lives.‘
Marc Fliedner, Civil Rights Attorney, Disability Rights New York
‘It struck me so powerfully as a viewer, what a central role she had in the documentary and in telling her own story.‘
Katie Hyson, WUFT/NPR
‘Stories about people with disabilities have long been told through the lens of those that lack our lived experience. In this film, we see Michelle's story. Her voice can be seen through her hands, her artwork, and those who Michelle loves and cherishes in her life.‘
Delbert Whetter, Vice Chair, Board of Directors at RespectAbility
‘Atin Mehra’s 'Being Michelle' centers on a wrongfully incarcerated woman, and finds inventive ways to have us view the story from her perspective as a deaf person with autism.‘
Matt Fagerholm, Literary Editor
RogerEbert.com Serious Oscar Contenders Dazzle at 2022 BendFilm Festival
‘All prisons must have accessibility, communication access, some way for us to understand what's going on.‘
Michelle Ricks
KOAA5 Deaf and Autistic Woman Jailed without Translator Fights for Change