'Baby steps' towards an accessible film festival

For the first time in 2023, Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival has a programme for accessible screenings. 

While only seven out of the approximately 100 films will have additional accessibility features, the team are excited to make “first year baby steps” and “lay down the foundations”, says production and events coordinator Matt Bloomfield. 

In previous years, there were some closed caption screenings and “the odd thing here or there, but it was a little bit ad hoc”, he says. 

This year, Whānau Mārama have sought advice from Arts Access and Able, on both accessibility and on what disabled audiences want.

“One of the big things I got out of the meetings is that disabled communities don't want to just see [a film] because it’s about someone in a wheelchair… They wanna see our big, popular films as well,” Bloomfield says.

So in selecting which films they have capacity to include additional accessibility features, they ensured comedian Tom Sainsbury’s feature film Loop Track was part of their accessible offerings.

There have also been talks with film producers about using already-made captions and audio description tracks, and there will be some New Zealand Sign Language interpreted Q&A sessions too.

In terms of films featuring disabled filmmakers and storytellers, The Tuba Thieves is focused on the LA Deaf community by a Deaf filmmaker, and Is There Anybody Out There? about a disabled woman looking for people with the same condition as her. 

The accessible screenings will only be held in Tāmaki Makaurau and Pōneke at this stage, but there are hopes to eventually spread out into other cities in the coming years.

Whānau Mārama is also partnering with AroVideo to offer online screenings after the festival, depending on the films’ distribution rights. 

Bloomfield thinks the New Zealand International Film Festival is an event everyone can participate in.

“There's such a wide variety of films and films come from different filmmakers from all over the world and from New Zealand,” he says. “So just trying to make sure that people know that the film festival is for them and trying to make it as comfortable a place as possible.”

Film screenings with additional accessibility features, such as audio descriptions and captions include:

• Sweet As
• The Giants
• The Survival of Kindness
• The Tuba Thieves
• Is There Anybody Out There?
• Loop Track
• Robot Dreams

The festival runs until 13 August, 2023.

For more information and to purchase accessible tickets, visit the Whānau Mārama website.