Stand Up

Vera is a fun-loving 23-year-old until her entire life is upended after an accident leaves her in a wheelchair. Struggling to cope with her new reality, she meets Xander, who helps to show her that being in a wheelchair doesn’t mean she’s stuck. Vera is a normal, party-loving, bike-riding, risk-taking 23-year-old woman — until one night when she gets in an accident on her way home from a night out. The next time she wakes up, she has one less leg than she started with. As she struggles to cope with her new reality as a disabled person, she meets Xander, another young, wheelchair-bound person who rolls with a big posse of differently-abled people and an even bigger attitude. Stuck between two worlds, her able-bodied friends and Xander’s new group, Vera must figure out where she fits in now or forge an entirely new path of her own. Stand Up presents a young woman facing an unimaginable future as her entire life is upended by a few seconds of bad luck. Despite her circumstances, the film itself is optimistic as Vera’s friends, old and new, help her figure out how to live life to its fullest even after tragedy. With heartfelt performances from young actors Lucia Zemene and Daan Buringa, Stand Up is an utterly charming film about resilience, friendship and learning how to ask for help when you need it.—Camille Ramos