MIFF Talks – Disability and Cinema – Beyond Representation

Films often still struggle to accurately and compassionately represent disability on screen. Despite progress across recent decades in portraying minority experience, films today often struggle to accurately and compassionately represent disability on screen. Whether used as plot devices, reduced to inspiring stories of overcoming adversity, restricted by damaging ableist stereotypes or left out entirely, disability and mental illness are areas of chronic misrepresentation across global media. 

However, on-screen representation is only one side of the picture. Drawing from disability scholars, activists and filmmakers, this panel considers the various ways people with disabilities are marginalised both on-screen and behind the scenes, to discuss the way forward and to celebrate the accomplishments of trailblazers paving the way for future generations.

Panellists: Alistair Baldwin, Paul Barakat, Caroline Bowditch, Chris Bunton and Tracey Corbin-Matchett; moderated by Fiona Tuomy