Film festivals are missing out on disability talent and cultural insight
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While much important work remains, the movement toward more authentic representation of people with disabilities in film and television has gained significant momentum in recent years.
But while there has been increased scrutiny over how disability is depicted or, sadly, all too often excluded from the finished product, less attention has been paid to the serious accessibility barriers that affect film creators with disabilities at the grassroots level of the industry. Film festivals are the lifeblood of the industry, providing invaluable networking and career development opportunities for both aspiring filmmakers and those already within Hollywood’s walled garden.
Earlier this month, a coalition consisting of Filmmakers with Disabilities (FWD-Doc), the Film Event Accessibility Working Group, and the Film Festival Alliance released the Accessibility Scorecard Impact Report, which examined accessibility data for 75 film festivals and events around the world, taking into account the experiences of 353 respondents. The online survey, which first launched in July 2022, incorporated not only the viewing experience but also the red carpet, stage, networking, and related events.
Key figures from the Accessibility Scorecard Impact Report include that 75% of respondents with disabilities reported some lack of accessibility during their film festival experience: 46% felt that the event’s website did not accurately report the venue’s accessibility, 41% reported that there was no accessible seating process in place, 47% of attendees with disabilities felt that festival volunteers were not trained in accessibility features, and 60% said that panels and Q&As they attended were not facilitated in an accessible manner.
Overall, out of a total of 75 film events, only five performed above the median. These were Superfest Disability Film Festival, Black Star Film Festival, International Queer Women of Color Film Festival, Access: Horror Film Festival, and the New Orleans Film Festival.
Hindering career advancement
“When filmmakers are barred from attending their own screenings and Q&As, it denies many filmmakers the opportunity to build the grassroots following they need to sustain their careers and prove to industry insiders that their films are worth seeing,” Cassidy Dimon, founder of the Film Accessibility Working Group, whose members include ReelAbilities New York and the Sundance Institute, said in an email interview.
She continues, “Many large film festivals are both markets and workplaces for filmmakers – opening doors to funders, distributors, and other festival program staff. When filmmakers are denied entry to these festivals because of accessibility issues, they are unable to work. Similarly, accessibility issues at festivals prevent film critics, publicists, and other industry professionals with disabilities from doing their jobs.”
It’s a position strongly supported by Amanda Upson, interim director of FWD-Doc.
“Filmmakers need to attend film festivals to advance their careers. Festivals provide opportunities for training, professional development, mentorship, networking, exhibition and access to funding,” Upson says.
“If you work in the entertainment industry, you’ll want to attend film festivals and events for the same reasons that someone who works in consumer technology or cloud computing goes to CES or AWS.”
Of course, these grassroots access barriers directly impact on-screen representation of disabled people, who risk feeling inauthentic or being ignored altogether if their voices are not heard in cinemas. As Upson explains, the costs to the film industry aren’t just cultural alienation (which is bad enough), but have serious economic implications.
“The long-term impact for the industry is that the disability community will no longer have full access to the $13 trillion in disposable income that exists globally,” Upson explains.
“Just ask any movie studio whose ‘inspirational’ disability films haven’t done well at the box office. A studio president recently asked me why several disability-related films haven’t done well at the box office: because there weren’t any disabled leaders who knew how to tell and market disability stories. The film industry is always looking for new, untold perspectives. Disabled filmmakers add to that the specific skills they have developed by being pioneers and blazing trails where none existed before.”
“Disability narratives are often told, promoted and distributed by people who don’t experience disability, leading to inaccurate and sometimes exploitative representations,” Dimon said.
“If we’re not there to advocate for more funding, pitch authentic stories, or program, we’re denying a critical demographic a platform. As we’ve learned over the past few years through other DEIA initiatives (often with the A omitted), not being represented in any part of the process means we can’t advocate for what we need and the stories we want to tell.”
A unique art form
Jim LeBrecht, co-director and co-producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp and co-founder of FWD-Doc and the 1in4 Coalition, said there is a unique beauty in disability-inclusive filmmaking.
“I believe that people who have experienced disability have innate problem-solving abilities,” Lebrecht says.
“We live in a world that was built with a mindset that didn’t expect or want us. To survive, we developed creative skills and approaches in our daily lives, and those experiences are embedded in our art. We are a driven people who value hard-won achievements.”
He continues, “When I think about documentary filmmakers like Reed Davenport and his film I Didn’t See You There, or Alison O’Daniel and her film The Tuba Thieves, I know I’ve been witness to incredibly compelling films that non-disabled filmmakers could not or would not have been able to make based on their own experiences alone.
“For me, and for many others, disability is our culture. It is our shared experience, exploding with each person’s unique variations on themes: life, art, reflection. To quote the great late artist Neil Marcus, ‘disability is art, it’s a unique way of living.’ To make us and our art inaccessible to anyone is a failure. The consequences of this erasure, this exclusion, are for us all to reflect and decide for ourselves.”
As part of its recommendations to make film festivals and events more accessible, the coalition encourages commitment to measurable accessibility goals along with dedicated budget allocations.
These goals include live captioning of panels and Q&As, providing low-sensory spaces, closed captioning of films, providing American Sign Language (ASL) or appropriate sign language interpretation where appropriate, making accessibility information easily findable on the festival website, and ensuring event staff are knowledgeable about advertised access services.