Superfest International Disability Film Festival is a juriedfilm festival held in the San Francisco Bay Area.[1] Superfest is the longest-running disability film festival in the world.[2] In addition to featuring films developed by and starring people with disabilities, Superfest aims to be inclusive.[3][4][5][6] The directors also coach the film makers about accessibility of films to people with disabilities.[1] During the film festival, the organizers provide sign language interpreters and film narrators to allow for the attendees with various disabilities to appreciate the films.[7] All of the judges for Superfest are people with disabilities from various community roles, including disability community organizers, disability studies scholars, and film aficionados.[4][5] Superfest closely follows the disability rights slogan: Nothing About Us Without Us.[1]
Stereotypes of disabilities are perpetuated through mainstream media and popular culture.[8][9] The aim of Superfest is to showcase films created by people with disabilities, illustrating real life experiences of disability and how universal the topic of disability can be.[4][5][1] Some film submissions are what the disability community refers to as inspiration porn.[10] These stories are generally regarding people with disabilities completing a great feat, in spite of their disabilities, and never approach the topic of discrimination of people with disabilities or the social standards to which people with disabilities are held.[1] Attendees express they can be authentic at Superfest and speak openly about their experiences.[10]
Superfest is held over a weekend and is considered more of a cultural event than a film festival.[1]
History
The Superfest International Disability Film Festival began as the Film Forum for the AAMR in the 1970s, and was supported by the University Affiliated Program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles In 1976, it was taken on as a major activity by a newly created non-profit organization, the Corporation on Disability and Telecommunication (CDT). CDT's mission was to promote a positive image of people with disabilities and promote employment for persons with disabilities in the media industry.
At that time, Superfest was the only international film festival that showcased diverse films related to the social challenge of disability, receiving entries from around the country and the world. Viewing committees were established in multiple California locations, often based at the Developmental Disability Regional Centers and eventually at other places around the country. During the late 70s and for most of the 1980s, Superfest screened nearly 100 films a year, produced yearly PBS television viewings throughout the nation, was funded by the Corporation on Public Broadcasting, the State of California, and other groups. During this time, CDT also produced the documentary BREAKING GROUND for KTLA-TV about Hollywood actors with disabilities who were breaking into the mainstream. Both the PBS specials and BREAKING GROUND received Hollywood chapter Emmy nominations for their hosts, along with a 1987 documentary AMNESTY: THE DREAM FULFILLED? about how persons with disabilities were being excluded from becoming citizens. Superfest received special recognition at the Hawaii International Film Festival in 1987 and at the Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley.
The KTLA documentaries received state and national recognition and CDT received various California State grants and awards. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the leadership of CDT changed, and focus for the running of Superfest shifted to the CDT chapter in the San Francisco Bay area. This was not a surprise in that the first screening committees and PBS airings were in the Bay Area. The first Superfest awards ceremony and screening outside of Los Angeles and AAMR conventions sites, was at the Presidio in San Franciscom, hosted by Jay Leno. In fact, the name for the festival, "Superfest" was first recommended by the "Northern California" organizing committee.
Annual film festivals were held in Berkeley from 1998 to 2011. In 2009, Superfest held a commemorative two-day program featuring 13 disability films the committee considered classics of disability in film called Superfest Classics.[11]
In 2015 Superfest expanded to a two-day festival and recognized the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act being signed into legislation.[5] With the beginnings as a grass-roots organization, Superfest has not been able to have a film festival each year since its founding. The 2016 festival was their 30th film festival. After the 2019 festival, the LightHouse for the Blind and the Longmore Institute dissolved their partnership, and now the festival is run solely by the Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University.[7][12]
In 2013, Superfest presented a special event. This event was to highlight films where disability had been mocked or portrayed in an insensitive manner.[13] These types of films where disability is mocked are referred to as disability snub films.[14] The "Dissies" mirror the Razzies, where the award given is not an honor at all. Each year, a new "Dissie" is awarded from films nominated by the community. Mock "Dissie" awards are given each year to disability snub films.[6]
The Dissies
Worst portrayal of a disability by a nondisabled actor
Merit Award – Antoine, Director: Laura Bari, Producers: Laura Bari & Mila Aung-Thwin (Canada)
Merit Award – Crooked Beauty, Director: Ken Paul Rosenthal, Producer: Angel Vasquez (USA)
Merit Award – Departure Lounge, Director: Louis Neethling, Producers: Louis Neethling & David Horbury (UK)
Merit Award – Loud, Proud, and Passionate!, Directors: Dana Vion & Sky's the Limit Creative Services, Producers: Susan Sygall & Mobility International U.S.A. (USA)
Merit Award – Mothersbane Director & Producer: Jason Jakaitis; U.S.
Pamela K. Walker Award – Rainman Goes to RocKwiz, Director: Russell Kilbey, Producer: Amy Scully (Australia)
Emerging – Hannah, Director & Producer: Sergio Cruz (UK)
Since 2012, when the Longmore Institute on Disability and LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired have directed Superfest, there has been a film festival each year, and the festivals have sold out each time.[1]
Growth of the festival
Superfest now attracts over 300 attendees during the festival's two-day event.[4] Filmmakers from both beginning and established backgrounds showcase their projects at Superfest. Filmmakers have debuted their films at Superfest and then gone on to receive broader distribution opportunities and further success.[4][28] The film creators have expressed having Superfest as an opportunity to showcase their work is affirming.[29]
In 2016, there were 119 film submissions for Superfest.[10]
^ ab"Descriptions of Superfest Classics". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XVIII Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XIX Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XX Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XXI Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XXII Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XXIIIV Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XXIV Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XXV Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XXVI Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Superfest XXVII Award Winner's List". Internet Archive: Culture! Disability! Talent!. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
