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I notice a bunch of big-name non-disability film festivals jumping on the accessibility bandwagon, offering captioned and audio described films, captioning and ASL interpretation at panels, alt text on social media posts. We’re getting somewhere.

I also notice something important missing from some festivals and organizations that suddenly start offering this stuff when they’re told they’re supposed to: Filmmakers don’t understand exactly what they’re supposed to do or how, or who to hire, or how to assess and demand and be willing to pay for really good quality, culturally sensitive access. And disability culture. That seems to be really missing. Slap some access features onto a film or an event, and go pick up your gold star is the vibe I get pretty often.

What’s really, really good is when d/Deaf and disabled people are hired as paid consultants, brought on as paid contractors or staff, are featured filmmakers at these festivals, and audiences get advertisements that properly explain what access is on offer. People would be asked how the access was for them and how it can be improved for next year. That’s long been the case for festivals like Superfest. And what would be even better for these other festivals is if disability culture was simply a given in the film lineup and the presentation of the festival. That includes disability justice, a very key movement in disability culture that isn’t focused on disability rights and accessibility compliance. It’s about centering the perspectives, wisdom, and needs of those who face the most impact of inaccessibility: LGBTQ and BIPOC disabled people and undocumented disabled people, for example.

Enter 19th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival. This festival is free, whether you go onsite or watch it fully online or a mix. Yes, free. There’s some cross-movement accessibility if I ever heard it! If you need information about the accessibility, including free childcare, low fragrance seating, captions, ASL, and audio description, it’s on their website. Visit the following page to get tickets to the onsite screenings in San Francisco for June 9-11: festival2023.QWOCMAP.org/tickets/. The promo on the festival homepage isn’t audio described. It’s just a series of gorgeous images from films in the festival, which will have AD once you get to the whole film itself.

And there will be a panel about disability justice in film! This is what I’m talking about.

Registration opens soon for the encore screening, which I’ll be attending. The encore screening is where you can stream the entire 30-film captioned and audio described program June 23-30 for free. Read up on the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project at QWOCMAP.org.