The Marvels of Media Festival kicks off with a festive opening night celebration and recognizes outstanding films created by autistic media-makers with screenings, panel discussions, and media workshops. Audience members will have a chance to learn from professional filmmakers on the spectrum through media workshops and panel discussions.

The free festival is part of the Museum’s year-round Marvels of Media initiative, which showcases, celebrates, and supports autistic media-makers of all ages and skill sets. The third annual Marvels of Media Festival expands the Museum’s accessibility efforts for autistic visitors through the creation of a sensory-friendly space in the Media Lab and sensory kits, which are available at the front desk.

Schedule of Events:

4:00 p.m: Puppetry Workshop with WonderSpark Puppets

As part of Museum of the Moving Image’s Marvels of Media Festival and presented by WonderSpark Puppets, this workshop invites autistic visitors and media-makers are invited to learn how to perform puppetry on screen. Participants will gain knowledge about TV Puppetry Performance, technique, and learn the skills to become more confident puppeteers in this form. You can bring your TV-style hand and rod puppet puppet, and puppets will also be available for use. Recommended for ages 13 and up.  

This will take place at the Museum; space is limited.    

Free with RSVP.

Location: Digital Learning Suite

5:00 p.m: Flying Lessons + Oreo

Flying Lessons
Dir. Sarah Waldron. 2023, 84 mins. With Julia Schanker, Shayvawn Webster, Tori Ashley Matos. This dramatic feature follows two estranged sisters forced together by their mother’s sudden death: Beatrice, an autistic teenager who wants to learn to fly, and Talia, a queer musician with no interest in teaching her. With an improvised, documentary style, the story explores unconventional ways raw emotion and feelings of loss are communicated. Flying Lessons draws from the real-life experiences of director Waldron and her godsister, co-writer and star Schanker. Followed by a Q&A with Waldron moderated by actor, dramaturg, disability/accessibility educator Sydney Zarlengo. Content warning: death, ableism, and self-harm.

Preceded by:

Oreo  
Dir. Cashmere Jasmine. 2021, 18 mins. Oreo is a dark-comic, surrealist short featuring four vignettes: “Black Card,” “Girls,” “Mira,” and “The Other.” Each vignette depicts Black women at various ages and life stages as they experience moments of being on the “outside.” This inventive film shows how common feelings of loneliness are often compounded by experiences of class, race, religion, and colorism, focusing on those moments where each woman or girl chooses to conform or not to conform by standing in their otherness. Content warning: racism and bullying.

Free with RSVP.

Location: Bartos Screening Room