Rachel Israel is an up-and-coming Columbia University educated director who has joined with Tangerine Entertainment to write and direct an autistic love story, Keep the Change. The project builds on Israel’s short film, casting actors with developmental delays in the lead role of a high-functioning autistic man (Brandon Polansky) who falls in love with a more developmentally challenged young woman (Samantha Elisofon) when he attends a support group. Echoes of The Fault in our Stars, anyone?

Tangerine Entertainment is the brainchild of Anne Hubbell and Amy Hobby with the mission to see that more films directed by women get shepherded through the production process and onto the screen. They are joining with Summer Shelton (Little Accidents) to produce. Tangerine’s latest project, Lucky Them, with Toni Collette and Thomas Hayden Church, is currently in theaters after playing the Toronto International Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Below is a three-minute video of Israel discussing the making of the short that inspired the feature, and using non-actors with disabilities in the lead roles. At one point, she says of their ability to improvise: “The best material is the material I didn’t write.”

“Keep The Change” from CUFF 2014 on Vimeo.