Watching “Forward Thinking” feels like peering into an off-kilter, adjacent reality. The film opens on a crowded bulletin board, with a tan-colored flyer sitting front and center of the frame. The flyer, written using friendly Comic Sans, is titled “Coffee with Cops,” and offers the chance to meet with officers at a local park “at [click to continue...]
Film Takes Home Two Slamdance Awards, Underscoring Relevance of Film Today Cameron S. Mitchell’s documentary feature Disposable Humanity premiered during the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles. This film took home the 2025 Slamdance Unstoppable Feature Honorable Mention as well as a 2025 Audience Award, voted on by Slamdance attendees, underscoring the relevance of [click to continue...]
“I have pain in every part of my body.” Filmed over the course of seven years, Complicated is a documentary directed by Andrew Abrahams that follows several young people living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a connective tissue disorder that causes the body to produce faulty collagen. Karen, one of the film’s subjects, explains it this [click to continue...]
The 2025 Slamdance Film Festival has moved to Los Angeles to enhance accessibility for filmmakers and attendees. Seven of the 2025 Slamdance films were created by or feature Disability Belongs™ Lab alumni. Learn more about disability-inclusive films screening at the festival.
Expertly crafted by a seasoned team of trailblazers comes Contours, a truly beautiful short film about two people feeling the weight of time lost and the invisible distance forming between them. Viewers are welcomed into an art gallery where Spirit (Lauren Ridloff) and Van (John Autry II) are in their own emotional experiment to find [click to continue...]
The short film Witness opens with a ringing phone, just as a wedding ceremony “nikah” is about to take place in a masjid. The groom, Saleem, gives a sheepish grin as the call goes to voicemail—his witness is unavailable. The imam, the bride, and the bride’s father exchange exasperated glances before Imam Mustafa steps away [click to continue...]
Polio. Iron lungs. These one-time commonalities from a bygone era play a central role in Director Andrew Reid’s short film, Iron Lung. Set in New Mexico in 2002, and revolving around two sisters, Norma and Luisa Peña, the film opens on a shot of a darkened sky with heavy rain falling outside the window, flashes [click to continue...]
