Documentarians Ned Castle and Matt Day didn’t want their film about three Special Olympics triathletes to be overly sentimental or, as Castle put it, “inspiration porn.” In some ways, the film All You Hear Is Noise — screening at Vermont International Film Festival on October 22 and 24 — is a story of triumph: Three adults with intellectual disabilities find community and purpose through competing on an international stage at the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi. At first, Castle and Day concluded the documentary with the triathletes’ results at the Games. But they received feedback from advisers with disabilities that the story didn’t feel complete. Mainstream media often portrays people with intellectual disabilities overcoming the odds while glossing over the realities of day-to-day life, Castle said. So Castle and Day decided to extend the documentary and follow athletes Trent Hampton, Melanie Holmes and Chris Wines when they went back home. Hampton struggled with a return to monotony after coming off the high of the Games, Holmes prepared to move to a new city, and Wines grappled with how his disability would be perceived as he joined the U.S. Navy. The result is a candid film that captures each athlete’s distinct personality and moments of pride and struggle. “We basically doubled down, took a deep breath [and] said, ‘All right, we just shot and edited this whole film, but we need to keep going,'” Day said. “To build the film that we believed in, we realized we needed to spend more time with them outside of the bubble of the Special Olympics.” The completed vérité-style documentary, backed by SpringHill — the production company cofounded by pro basketball star LeBron James — debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City in June. Neither Castle, 39, nor Day, 36, has a formal background in film. Day, a Charlotte native and University of Vermont alum who currently lives in Los Angeles, said he honed his skills through classes held by Vermont Community Access Media, which helped him produce a series of music videos featuring Vermont artists called “Naked Musicians.” Castle, a Burlington resident, said he developed his storytelling philosophy while working as a media producer at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury. Documentaries are often exploitative, he said, but he aims to shift the power imbalance between directors and their subjects. That meant not proceeding until everyone…