Music – ArtsAbly

There is a variety of movies about musicians with disabilities or in which one of the main characters related to the music world has a disability.

This page gives a list of movies ordered alphabetically. Each title gives the name and year of release. This list is non-exhaustive. Let us know if you think of any missing reference that you feel should be added.

A Song from the Heart (1999)

Film poster representing the faces of a white man and a white woman. The woman has her head on the man's shoulder. The lower part represents two people walking on the beach seen from the back.

This poignant love story stars Amy Grant as a beautiful, blind concert cellist who falls for a famous, self-centered pianist but doesn’t realize that true love is right before her eyes.

Available format: DVD

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/42R2mX0

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203713/

Beethoven Lives Upstairs (1992)

DVD cover showing the legs of a person climbing stairs.

A young boy learns to appreciate the music of his upstairs boarder, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Available format: DVD

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/49snaGS

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096903/

Benda Bilili! (2011)

DVD cover representing five black men and a black child. The five men use modified wheelchairs with motorcycle or bike wheels on the front. Three of the men hold electric guitars.

Benda Bilili means “look beyond” in the Congolese dialect. The small band of physically disabled street musicians of Staff Benda Bilili provides an alternative path and a socially beneficial role for some of the street children in their area.

Available format: online

Language: English, French, others

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Apple TV): https://tv.apple.com/ca/movie/benda-bilili/umc.cmc.1yifw8ki2lpq3z1cmz6j5ets

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1625857/

Broken Hill (2009)

Poster of the film representing a white woman and a white man looking in front of them. There is a sunset in the background.

A sheep-rancher’s son aspires to win a music conservatory scholarship, but to apply he needs musicians who can play his music. Circumstances lead him to form a band out of prison inmates.

Available format: none

Language: English

Closed captions: n/a

Audio description: n/a

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1212909/

Caroline of Virginia (2011)

DVD cover representing a white man and a white woman sitting on the grass in front of a tree. The top part shows a zoom on their faces.

After a deaf woman befriends a musician, she wakes up the following morning with the ability to hear. Although this seems to comes as a blessing, she realizes there’s a catch to her miracle and it’s all at the expense of the musician.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes (Automatic, sometimes inaccurate)

Audio description: No

Link to watch the movie (YouTube): https://youtu.be/GIIuW43e9Gw?si=i_eTC6f-mpzXuurj

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1760941/

CODA (2021)

Film poster representing two withe women and two white men, four members of a family, sitting on the trunk of a car. The younger woman, the daughter, has her head on one of the father's shoulder. The two parents look at each other, smiling. The son looks at his parents.

“CODA” is a remake of the French movie “La famille Bélier” (also listed on this page). As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her passion at Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents.

Available format: online

Language: English, French, others

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Apple TV): https://tv.apple.com/ca/movie/coda/umc.cmc.3eh9r5iz32ggdm4ccvw5igiir

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10366460/

Duet for One (1986)

Poster of the film showing a white woman and a white man holding each other. The man kisses the woman's forehead.

Stephanie Anderson (Dame Julie Andrews), a famous violin player married to a composer becomes ill from Multiple Sclerosis. Her whole life goes to pieces. Her career ends abruptly, her husband betrays her with another woman, and her favourite pupil decides to leave for a tour in the U.S. Stephanie tries to take her own life.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to the watch the movie (YouTube, blocked in the US): https://youtu.be/DFQRv05IrHo?si=LmN-Kvc0M710QYVV

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092934/

Feel the Beat (2020)

A group of children and teenagers wearing black clothes, holding diverse dancing pauses. A young woman wearing a red top stands in the middle with her hands on her hips, smiling.

After failing to find success on Broadway, April returns to her hometown and reluctantly is recruited to train a misfit group of young dancers for a big competition.

Available format: online

Language: English, French, others

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to the watch movie (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/search?q=Feel%20the%20Beat&jbv=80994878

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10714856/

Free Will and Testament: The Robert Wyatt Story (2003)

The drawing of a white man with a thick, yellow beard, eyes closed, asleep on a giant white bird.

BBC4’s “Free Will and Testament: The Robert Wyatt Story” is a full-length documentary celebrating Robert Wyatt’s fifty-year career. It finds him performing, albeit without a live audience. He runs through some of his key works with a band that includes Annie Whitehead, Paul Weller, and keyboard player Janette Mason.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: No

Audio description: No

Link to watch the movie: https://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/Robert/in-conversation/BBC4/index.htm

Hilary and Jackie (1998)

Poster of the movie showing two white women, one with black eyes and one with blue eyes, looking in from of them. At the bottom, a woman on a beach seen from the back holds a cello in a hand and her bow in the other.

The tragic story of world renowned classic cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as told from the point of view of her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré-Finzi.

Available format: DVD

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3SQ3Oo8

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150915/

Immortal Beloved (1994)

Poster of the movie. A white man with a serious look is held by the arms of a woman that we cannot see. On the right, a man conducts an orchestra. There is a piano on his left.

The life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Besides all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved, and the movie tries to find out who this beloved was not easy, as Beethoven has had many women in his life.

Available format: online

Language: English, French, others

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to the watch the movie (Amazon Prime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.d4c5508e-da5a-40e2-bb77-02e4b3cf8f1e

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110116/

Imperfect (2021)

Poster of the movie, representing a group of actors on stage. Some are standing, one is sitting in a wheelchair.

A group of theatre actors, who live and perform with the uniqueness of disability, claim their place in the spotlight in this inspiring documentary.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to watch the movie (Tubi TV): https://tubitv.com/movies/100013831/imperfect

More details about the movie: https://newmobility.com/imperfect-documentary-disabled-theater-company/

It’s All Gone Pete Tong (2004)

Poster of the film showing the photo a white man with a big smile on his face on the top, and the same man wearing sunglasses, arms open in front of a crowd.

A famous DJ in the Ibiza club scene finds the alcohol and drug-fuelled party that is his life threatened by the progressive loss of his hearing.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Amazon Prime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.024d8baf-8c10-433a-8280-0d110d08ff64

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388139/

Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet (2012)

Poster of the movie, representing a black and white picture of Jason Becker in his twenties, kissing an electric guitar.

When doctors diagnosed 19-year-old rock star Jason Becker with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, they said he would never make music again. 22 years later, without the ability to move or to speak, Jason is alive and making music with his eyes.

Available format: DVD

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3UUDOKW

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2120779/

La famille Bélier (2014)

Poster of the movie representing two white men and two white women looking at the camera, smiling.

A girl, who lives with her deaf parents, discovers that she has the gift of singing.

Available format: online

Language: English, French

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Amazon Prime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.cc8c255b-ffff-4965-b5a5-8b792489a882

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3547740/

Listen to Your Heart (2010)

Poster of the movie representing several pictures including two pictures of a white man at the piano. In one of the pictures, he kisses a white woman. At the bottom they are looking at each other, head against the other, wearing wool hats.

A singer/songwriter falls in love with a girl who can’t hear the music she inspires him to write.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to watch the movie (Tubi TV): https://tubitv.com/movies/685555/listen-to-your-heart

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1274296/

Louis van Beethoven (2020)

DVD cover representing a picture of the actor Tobias Moretti dressed as Ludwig van Beethoven.

This lavish historical drama illuminates the story of the world-famous composer from different perspectives.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to watch the movie (Kanopy): https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/11185719

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11496350/

Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements (2019)

Poster of the movie, representing the shadows of a man and a boy standing, holding each other's hand.

“Moonlight Sonata” is a deeply personal memoir about a deaf boy growing up, his deaf grandfather growing old, and Beethoven the year he was blindsided by deafness and wrote his iconic sonata. Their lives weave a story about what we discover when we push beyond loss.

Available format: none

Language: English

Closed captions: n/a

Audio description: n/a

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9135318/

Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)

Poster of the movie, representing a white cut-out of a man wearing glasses, arms hands open and palms up. There are multiple small pictures of people in the background.

A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher, when his son is diagnosed with deafness.

Available format: DVD

Language: English, French

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3UVMxwe

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113862/

Music By Prudence (2010)

A group of eight black men and a black women. The five people in the front are sitting in a wheelchair. The four people in the back are standing, the one on the right holding crutches.

In Zimbabwe, where disabled babies are often killed at birth, Prudence not only survives but achieves social acceptance. In this Oscar winning film, follow the story of how Prudence and a band of people with disabilities triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds.

Available format: none

Language: English

Closed captions: n/a

Audio description: n/a

More details about the movie: https://www.passionriver.com/music-by-prudence.html

Ray (2004)

Poster of the movie showing the drawing of the face of Ray Charles, a black man seen from the side, wearing black glasses, laughing.

The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.

Available format: online

Language: English, French

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Amazon Prime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.f5085b7b-c1f5-43e6-bc8f-55e148e54b1e

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0350258/

Shine (1996)

Poster of the movie, showing a white man jumping in the air, eyes closed, with headphones on the ears and holding a walkman.

Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.

Available format: DVD

Language: English, French

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3IdvCxC

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117631/

Sins of Man (1936)

Poster of the movie showing drawings of white men with serious looks, and a young man standing close to his mother who is crying, her face in her hands.

Austrian church bell ringer Freyman loves music and wants his two sons (both played by Ameche) to love it too. The first goes to America and the second is born deaf-mute but gains hearing during WWI bombing.

Available format: none

Language: English

Closed captions: n/a

Audio description: n/a

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028259/

Sound of Metal (2019)

Poster of the movie, representing the picture of a white man sitting in front of a drum set, holding sticks.

A heavy metal drummer’s life is turned upside down when he begins to lose his hearing and he must confront a future filled with silence.

Available format: online

Language: English, French

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/search?q=Sound%20of%20Metal&jbv=80202753

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5363618/

Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don’t Know Me (2018)

Poster of the movie, representing Teddy Pendergrass, a black man with a white tank top, standing and singing in a microphone.

This documentary explores the rise of Teddy Pendergrass, the first male African American artist to record five consecutive platinum albums against the backdrop of 1960s America, and his comeback after a life-changing accident.

Available format: DVD

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/4c1zFuO

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6522666/

The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)

Poster of the movie representing a drawing of a white man wearing blue clothes, playing the guitar and singing, on a stage surrounded by a crowd. The musician and the audience members are represented with the top of their heads cut and no brain inside.

Daniel Johnston, manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist is revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love.

Available format: online

Language: English, French

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Amazon Prime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.be15d0d4-4e51-4aea-83f6-a8315c12481d

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436231/

The Drummer and the Keeper (2017)

Poster of the movie representing a white man and a white woman facing the camera, with their eyes looking at each other.

An unlikely friendship develops between the bipolar drummer of a rock band and an institutionalized teen living with Asperger’s syndrome.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: No

Link to watch the movie (Tubi TV): https://tubitv.com/movies/682744/the-drummer-the-keeper

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6535926/

The Man Who Played God (1932)

Poster of the movie, representing the drawing of a white man wearing a black suit and playing the piano.

After losing his hearing, a musician uses lip-reading to help others.

Available format: DVD

Language: English

Closed captions: No

Audio description: No

Link to buy the movie (Amazon): https://amzn.to/3uTakCj

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023181/

The Soloist (2009)

Poster of the movie, showing a black man seen from the side playing the cello eyes closed, and a white man looking at him.

A newspaper journalist discovers a homeless musical genius and tries to improve his situation.

Available format: online

Language: English, French

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Amazon Prime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.9cb71174-918e-3d70-31ec-6f953f318bee

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/

Then Barbara Met Alan (2022)

Poster of the movie representing the picture of a white woman and a white man in front of a green bus. The woman, on the left, uses an electric wheelchair. The man on the right is standing.

The movie tells the story of Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, two disabled cabaret artists who met in 1989 and became the driving force behind Direct Action Network – whose protests pushed disability rights into the spotlight.

Available format: online

Language: English

Closed captions: Yes

Audio description: Yes

Link to watch the movie (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/search?q=Then%20Barbara%20Met%20Alan&jbv=81406123

More details about the movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16588654/