April is Autism Acceptance Month, and to get a head start, the Museum of the Moving Image will host a showcase of neurodivergent filmmakers of all ages and skills sets from Thursday, March 28, to Saturday, March 30.
The third annual Marvels of Media Festival features 17 new films, a virtual reality project, panel discussions, and a media workshop.
Admission is free with RSVP, and MoMI will expand accessibility for visitors with autism by providing sensory kits and creating a sensory-friendly space in the Media Lab.
On March 28 at 6:30 pm, the opening reception begins with remarks by festival founder Josh Sapan and advisory council member Tony Spiridakis, followed by short films. Entitled “Unique Romances,” the selection explores how autistic people navigate dating and relationships via comedy, magical realism, and fantasy. A panel discussion with filmmakers Dani Bowman, Violet Gallo, Kory Mann, and producer/actor Tal Anderson follows with filmmaker-playwright Jackson Tucker-Meyer as the moderator.
Here are the opening night films.
Starcrossed Destinies (Director Dani Bowman, 2023, three minutes, NY premiere.) Two classmates—a human and an alien—bond over their shared passion for astronomy beneath a shimmering night sky.
70/50 (Director Kory Mann, 2023, 11 minutes, NY premiere.) Kara, a queer, autistic high schooler, finds herself alone in a room with her long-time crush.
Sensory & Sense-Ability (Director Jeremy Andrew Davis, 2023, three minutes, NY premiere.) Director Davis stars in this inner monologue of an autistic person working his way through conversation on a date.
Sky and Lucia (Director Violet Gallo, 2022, 10 minutes.) This magical realism short centers on a shy high school student who disappears when faced with turbulent emotional situations.
Polyphony (Director Harold Hall Jr., 2023, 5 minutes, NY premiere.) Emily Martin, a twenty-something aspiring songwriter, is perfectly content without a boyfriend. Suddenly, everything changes when she finds herself in a duet with a stranger.
Wilmington Escaped (Director Carrie Hawks, 2023, 6 minutes.) This virtual reality film takes guests on a ghost tour, including real accounts of enslaved people traveling to other worlds around the time of the 1898 insurrection of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Here’s the rest of the Marvels of Media schedule.
March 29
Flying Lessons at 5 pm (Director Sarah Waldron, 2023, 84 minutes.) Two estranged sisters — Beatrice, an autistic teenager, and Talia, a queer musician — are forced together by their mother’s sudden death. With an improvised, documentary style, the story explores the unconventional ways raw emotion and feelings of loss can be communicated. A Q&A with Waldron follows. Actor, dramaturg, and disability/accessibility educator Sydney Zarlengo moderates.
Preceded by Oreo (Director Cashmere Jasmine, 2021, 18 minutes.) This dark-comic, surrealist short features four vignettes, each depicting a Black woman at a different age and life stage as she experiences moments of being on the “outside.”
March 30
Magnificently Awesome Animations: Four Shorts at 1:30 pm, followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers Nicholas Amodio and Alba Enid Garcia and puppeteer Julio Garay, moderated by advocate, activist, and author Lauren Melissa Ellzey. The panel’s focus is on the techniques used in their films (i.e. stop-motion and digital animation) and how autistic identity comes into play when creating.
Here are the films.
Dangerously Ever After (Director Alba Enid Garcia, 2023, 12 minutes, world premiere.) Autistic animator and puppeteer Julio Garay’s stop-motion fairy tale depicts a young princess who loves the strange and morbid. She meets a shy prince who comes upon her castle.
Cat Hunter (Director Nicholas Amodio, 2023, 2 minutes.) A cat is determined to make a meal out of an elusive creature known as the “Cheesebeetle.”
The Kazuki Toons: Babysitting an Egg (Director Kazuki Conover, 2023, 7 minutes.) This silly, well-crafted short shows the growing friendship between Kazuki, his creation Blendy, and the Easter Bunny’s adopted son, Edward the Easter Egg.
Twoot Newt (Director Jackie Snyder, 2021, 4 minutes.) Newt struggles with jealousy over Salamander’s musical talent before coming to accept her unique toot.
Bending Conventions: Five Shorts at 2:30 pm.
Innovative experimental techniques and unique storylines unite this program of pieces by autistic directors and the nonprofits Exceptional Minds and Spectrum Laboratory. A panel discussion follows with filmmakers Madison Cahill, Daniel Oliver Lee, and Samara Huckvale about the excitement of experimenting with cinematic forms and how they approached making their films.
Here are the films.
build me through the image / constrúyanme a través de la imagen (Director Paula Hung, 2023, 8 minutes, Spanish with English subtitles, NY premiere.) This experimental documentary explores the intricacies and complexities of being transmarginal Latino, multiracial, and queer. With narration describing the experiences of a father, mother, and daughter, and visuals mixing archival film footage, this film engages and deconstructs the cinematic form in dynamic, beautiful ways while analyzing media representation.
Fox Box Follies (Director Daniel Oliver Lee, 2023, 4 minutes.) In this surrealistic, folkloric short, a fox tries to sneak his way into a boxing ring disguised as a chicken.
Mean Mr. Mustache (Director Madison Cahill, 2021, 4 minutes.) This riveting animated music video for the band PENIX features a car chase and lots of explosions.
The Benchwarm-Nerds! (Director Jason Weissbrod, 2023, 15 minutes.) Through music, puppetry, and comedy, this film, created at Spectrum Laboratory, follows three outcasts who meet and combine their talents to create the most epic sci-fi saga of all time.
Ocean’s 24/7 (Director Samara Huckvale, 2024, 3 minutes, world premiere.) Parodying heist films and the French New Wave, this stoner’s revenge comedy centers on two twenty-something amateurs who decide to rob a local grocery store chain with the help of 24 people in seven days after a store employee publicly embarrasses them. The film features Black, autistic artists on-screen and behind the scenes.
Tree’s Blood (Directors Zion Ballard Balewa, Sarah Breiche, Nathan Dana, Miles Hawkins, Hilaria Litton, Sophia Oh, Jorge Ramirez, Christopher Rubinstein, Kayla Nataly Verdugo, Eden Wolfenson, Abigail Zamora of Reel Start, 2024, 8 minutes, with voices of Ayo Edebiri, Rose Byrne, Seth Rogen.) A social media influencer realizes the importance of taking care of the environment when her search for fame quite literally puts her world at stake. This short was animated by artists at Exceptional Minds, including Kate “Kae” McSpadden, Becca David, Liam Brosnan, Christian Keithley, Sam Hardin, Craig Hills, Andrew Turney, Dylan Carbonell, C. Idd, Dean Julien, Jack Meigs, Dustin Noriyuki, Ludwig Tan, Michael Shiu, Stephen Storti, Kyle Grossart, Aaron Trost, Autumn Schneider, Shad Wilde, and David Miles.
Collage Animation Workshop at 4 pm.
Instructed by artist David Karasow, this two-hour workshop focuses on creating collage art with paper, which is then animated to create a stop-motion animation short (between 10 and 20 seconds). Co-presented by Strokes of Genius. Recommended for ages 15 and up.
MoMI is at 36-01 35th Ave. in Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District.
Images: MoMI