Seated in a Groton Starbucks with espresso malted milk balls in one hand and fresh coffee in the other, Groton resident Chris Annino needed the caffeine for a wake-me-up. He thought it might look odd for a zombie film director to look for ways to liven up, but he didn’t mind. The film he is working on, “East Side Zombies,” has a purpose he feels is way more important than the contradiction.

“This film is a platform for adjusting to different people. You’re never gonna be able to end all the hatred, but we’re trying to demonstrate that you don’t have to persecute people because they’re different,” Annino said, referencing the discrimination faced by many marginalized groups across the United States.

The film focuses on high school classmates Martin, a human struggling to adjust to his disability after an accident bound him to a wheelchair, and Persippany, a sentient zombie in an age when zombies have abandoned their taste for flesh in favor of peaceful existences with the living as vegetarians. After news of a human attack on zombie youth breaks, tensions rise between the two communities in a way that mirrors police violence and bullying in reality.

“In this film, zombies represent people who are different, and they’re the good guys. They’re the peacemakers and humans are the ones that persecute them,” Annino said.

Key inspirations for the project include the arrest and death of activist Sandra Bland in Texas, as well as the alleged bullying-affiliated death of 13-year-old in Stonington, and the 1963 Birmingham campaign, according to Annino.

The plot drew from the crew members’ own lives as well. Annino, who is co-director of the movie, was diagnosed with a multitude of disabilities in his youth, including weakened bodily muscles on his left side and mild Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

Lee Howard, who wrote the script and is the director, has an autistic son. Howard, who is a reporter for The Day, said he was inspired by Annino to write about zombies to make the movie accessible to as many people as possible.

It is a community film project and includes people with disabilities as the core of the film, Howard said.

“People don’t understand the possibilities that people with disabilities have,” Annino said. “Growing up is hard for everyone, but when you’re labeled with something, it’s even harder.”

In school, he dealt with harassment from classmates and found it hard to study. He called the period “depressing” since it was hard for him to “fit the norm.” To distract himself, he read comic books and watched the 1993 film “Rudy.”

Teachers and mentors were the only ones to lend him a helping hand, he recalled. After graduating high school, he attended Mitchell College on an athletic scholarship. However, he didn’t feel as strongly about sports as he felt about writing, and it was through this passion that he met and wrote freelance pieces for about a year for the Times Community News Group, owned by The Day.

With the mentors he had throughout his life, he was pushed to succeed: he graduated college, is a film director, an actor and professional wrestler.

Annino said he didn’t get into his professions to get famous, but to help others help themselves. He said that in addition to the film, he’s trying to create an organization that employs the “unemployable” and gives them a chance like he was given.

“Instead of acting out, you can ask questions about their differences,” Annino said. “Everybody’s different, and if we adjust to each other, remarkable things can happen.”

Since the project’s start, the film has gained the support of the Garde Arts Center and Flock Theatre. The crew will also collaborate with the Shelbi Rose Foundation for a softball tournament fundraiser at the Spellman Recreational Complex on Sept. 13 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“East Side Zombies” is expected to be finished by the end of winter.