Film fans who live with a learning disability are curating a fascinating line-up of shorts for the big screen as part of this year’s Storyhouse Kaleidoscope Festival.
The week-long festival, which takes place from 11-18 July, is programmed for and by the learning disabled community and will include a wide-ranging programme of events including a parade, performances, flashmobs, quizzes and music nights.
The series of short films all made by people living with a learning disability, autism or Aspergers will be screened in the Storyhouse Cinema on Wednesday, 13 July.
All the shorts have been chosen by film fans who similarly live with a learning disability and have been working with the Oska Bright Film Festival to hone their film programming skills.
Earlier this year, Oska Bright – the world’s leading learning disability film festival – brought a line-up of bold and boundary-breaking films to Chester, staging a Best of the Fest at Storyhouse as part of the festival’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
With fewer than five percent of people with a disability working in the UK film industry, Oska Bright is committed to effecting positive change.
Working internationally with industry partners and funded by the BFI, the Oska Bright team produces the BAFTA and BIFA qualifying annual festival in Brighton, promoting accessible screenings and runs training for venues.
Almost 700 films were submitted to the 2022 festival from 55 countries.
As a result of the Best of the Fest programme at Chester, a programme of training for people with learning disabilities or autism who were interested in programming film events in the building’s cinema was launched at Storyhouse itself.
The result can be seen at this Kaleidoscope Festival event.
Storyhouse communities manager Nicola Haigh says:
Oska Bright is a really inspirational organisation doing important work within the film industry, and all those who have taken part in its training to help them choose and stage a film programme here at Storyhouse have gained a lot of confidence, experience and enjoyment from their participation.
I can’t wait to see the exciting and thought-provoking series of shorts they have curated as part of this year’s Kaleidoscope Festival – and this is just the beginning of their work at Storyhouse itself.
This is the first Kaleidoscope Festival we have been able to stage since 2019 and it’s shaping up to be a brilliant festival week.
ENDS
For more information, contact:
Nancy Davies
Marketing and PR Manager
Storyhouse
07886 743531
LISTING
Films In the Cinema
Venue: Storyhouse Cinema
Date: Wednesday, 13 July
About Storyhouse
Storyhouse is one of the UK’s foremost cultural centres incorporating a library, theatres and a cinema. It is one of the country’s most successful arts buildings, with more than one million customer visits each year.
The pioneering new library within Storyhouse, where members of the community work alongside city librarians, boasts the longest opening hours of any UK public library and is open every day until 11pm. It runs over 2,000 sessions a year for marginalised communities
The company also runs a highly successful theatre company and the country’s most successful regional open-air theatre, in the city’s Grosvenor Park and Moonlight Flicks open air cinema.
Storyhouse currently holds the official title as the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre and was the overall national winner in the 2018 Guardian Public Service Awards
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