Premiere of Lego Oma, the Film
Lego Oma is a 12-minute micro-budget short documentary about Rita Ebel, aka the Lego Oma, a German grandma and wheelchair user. Rita is a few decades old – the saying “age is just a number” couldn’t be more accurate than in this case – has been married three times – but who is counting? – loves to go water skiing and, generally, doesn’t step away from any athletic challenge. Since her car accident, which broke her lumbar spine and caused paralysis from her waist down, she constantly had to find creative ways to continue doing the things she loves, whether that is sports or activities taken for granted by non-disabled people, like shopping. When she noticed most of the stores in her hometown Hanau were inaccessible to her (and nobody was doing anything about it), she decided to make a statement by building wheelchair ramps from Lego, each a unique piece of art designed for a particular store. Her ramps are more than only tools to overcome physical barriers; they also raise awareness for accessibility and start conversations between different groups of people. This film tells Rita’s story, from her accident, over finding new ways to participate in sports while very much remaining the stubborn athlete she’s always been, to using Lego ramps to force non-disabled people to think about accessibility.
This is the first time the multiple award-winning film Lego Oma is publicly available to be screened.
Watch Lego Oma exclusively:
We have recently published a story about the Lego Oma as well:
You can find out more about this film on the filmmaker’s website karina-sturm.com
