#dimif

Daniel Bendelman

Featured Film - The Life and Death of an Anonymous Autistic Man

Daniel Bendelman is a neurodivergent installation artist and academic who’s work and practice is concerned with exploring the effects that the stereotypes produced within autism representation through the media has in the public sphere. His practice embodies the post-dramatic and Kafkaesque radical aesthetics of 21st century live art and works to make spectators confront urgent issues surrounding the politics of autism today. His previous installation ‘We Were Here…’ has been exhibited at The Autism Arts Festival at The University of Kent, and ‘Fragments’ was exhibited at The Brink Festival at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

'Hello, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, have you had a nice day?’

Daniel Bendelman's experimental film installation 'The Life and Death of an Anonymous Autistic Man' (made in conjunction with DYSPLA), invites the viewer to confront the question of mortality and the role that pathology and the dehumanisation of the self has within the lived experience of autism.

"On average autistics die at 36 due to isolation and depression, I'm 31. Are pills my only saviour? Or my ultimate downfall?"

TICKETS ARE LIMITED - BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Listing Information*

Awards Ceremony, Gala & Gin Reception: 14th March, 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM, £30.00

Industry Panel Discussion: 15th March, 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM, £10.00

Daily festival screenings: 15th March, 1-7 PM; 16th-18th March, 1-8:30 PM, £5.00

*All tickets will include £1 booking fee. Tickets are an extra £5.00 on the door.

DIMIF SEMI-FINALISTS

Slawomir Milewski - Smart Dress Is Absolutely Essential

Slawomir Milewski is a London based Polish artist and filmmaker, born in 1979. He completed his Master degree at University of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland. He was awarded a scholarship by Universite Rennes 2 in Rennes, France.

His films has been presented and awarded at numerous festivals and exhibitions in North and South America, Europe and Australia. Currently he is realising his first feature abstract film: Nostalgia for existing without delay.

“The film is a study for a larger work that refers to the Bataille-esque theme of transgression and retaining that which is transgressed.”

Angie Stimson - Sacred

From London but now living in Los Angeles. I graduated with a Degree in Fine Art and Film Making at Central Saint Martins, London. I exhibit my artwork and video installations in art galleries and festivals both in the UK and US.

Am I the person I remember or am I the person I forget?

A short documentary filmed over the course of 5 days that I have no memory of filming. I have epilepsy and I documented myself experiencing Complex Partial Seizures. They are internal and terrifying with little outwards signs that parts of your brain are mis-firing, playing havoc with perception and memory, it is exhausting and relentless. The fact that I don't recognize the person I am while filming does that mean its not 'me', what part of me is me , the me I remember or the me I forget?

Mads Johan Øgaard - I Am Dyslexic

Mads is a Norwegian born in 1993. He has recently graduated Falmouth University with a first class honors degree in Animation and VFX. Since then Mads has started his Masters degree in special education at Exeter University. He is currently illustrating a book in collaboration with the Norwegian Dyslexia foundation titled 'Dyslexi Norge' (Dyslexia Norway). This book is an informative book about Dyslexia and is aimed for children and teenagers and features the characters in his student film I AM DYSLEXIC.

His dream is to help as many as possible with and without a learning difference, to find there best way to help them learn learning! Mads Is proud to be a Dyslexic and Dyscalculic individual!

The animated short film I AM DYSLEXIC expresses what it feels like to have a learning difference in our current school system. Those with learning differences should be proud of who they are and should never be made to feel alone. The film uses strong metaphors to portray these emotions, as we follow a little boy in his journey to climb a mountain in a world made of books.

Martin Lennon - Oor Walley

Irish born Martin Lennon is an independent documentary filmmaker, based in the Netherlands. Martin has produced, directed and edited a number of projects which have been shown across Europe and the World.

His latest short documentary "Oor Wally" follows Stenhousemuir's unconventional mascot "Wally the Warrior" across an eventful football season.

Oor Wally (The Warrior) is a lighthearted documentary short film that follows Scotland's most unique mascot Wally the Warrior across an eventful football season. Wally also happens to be Eleanor, a mother of eight and and granny of seven. Every home game she wears the Wally costume with pride even though every season the team face another relegation battle.

Margarita Ospina - Home - La Casa

I have been trained in various creative areas, as I traveled through different countries and cities, graphic design in Ecuador, textile design in Colombia, design of prints in Barcelona, pictorial art in New Jersey. I have a Master in Multimedia Design in Madrid. I have taken courses in script, editing and creative writing.

6 years ago I decided to look for a form of artistic expression that was creative and that would help me to understand and express my neurodiversity as well as others’. For this reason I studied documentary film making in Madrid. From the beginning I have explored, with my work, my diversity as a dyslexic person as well as the world of human emotions.

Currently I work on a animated children serie in Stop Motion that pursues to develop the self-knowledge of children. I combine this activity with the production and editing of videos for both companies and individuals and my voluntary work in the association of Madrid with Dyslexia.

Home, La Casa is about the personal struggle and internal conflicts the main character faces due to her neurodiversity. She seeks for the sufficient courage to get off her bed and confront her fears. However, overall, she is looking for a place which could provide her shelter, protection... she is looking for a place she can call home (La Casa).

Kieran Thompson - Clutter

Kieran was born and raised in South London to parents Susan, a teacher, and Anthony Albert Thompson, also a teacher and musician. Diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at the age of 5. Moved to the Isle of Wight at the age of 9. Discovered filmmaking passion aged 12 by contributing to documentaries made at Nodehill Middle School.

As a teenager he joined youth filmmaking group Streets Ahead which made educational films about drug & alcohol abuse, island history and STDs, using highly creative and often humourous methods. Graduated from the University for the Creative Arts (Farnham) in 2013 with a 2:1 in Digital Film & Screen Arts. Has built up a portfolio of different work ranging from small experimental film works to collaborations on documentaries, short dramas and promotional films.

A subjective expression of how an autistic mind works. How distracting sounds such as background chatter, computer fans and other buzzing noises can disrupt the intake of verbal information, then the information stream gets broken into pieces with loose ends.

Dana Dimant - High Functioning

Dana Dimant is a human rights publicist, director and script writer, living in Ramat-Hasharon, Israel. Dana was nominated for the 2012 OFIR Awards (the Israeli Oscars) for her script for the feature film "Off White Lies". "High Functioning" is Dana's directional debut.

Dana is the mother of an autistic child. While searching for help for her daughter, she discovers ACI, a captivating group of autistic activists, trying to bring about a change in public awareness and get people to understand that autism isn't just a disability. It is an identity! Dana joins them on a journey that will change everything she thought she knew about autism and about herself.

Thomas Walker - CTRL

Thomas Walker has worked as a filmmaker in a professional and an amateur capacity for years - writing, directing and editing. His credits include short films, promos, music videos, training DVDs and web videos.

CTRL is about the often-fragmentary public perception of neurodiversity, compounded by its multifaceted nature. Every individual with neurodivergence is unique. CTRL tells a short story based on a variety of real experiences of trying to understand, manage and live with some aspects of neurodiversity and their challenges.  I humbly hope that CTRL can in some way help others to pause for thought or reconsider; every change has to start somewhere.

Natalie Priest - ZACK!

Natalie started making cartoons from a very young age. She focused on creating characters for insects, bugs and animals that carried on to this day, as shown in her recent animation ‘ME MICE SELF AND I’, which was screened at Daisyfest 2016 in Guildford, UK.

Natalie is skilled in developing character design, creating character driven animation and using 2D Digital animation programmes such as TVPaint to create lively and colourful films, designed to appeal to children and adults alike.

Natalie is currently studying for a Master of Arts in Animation at The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. She achieved a BA Hons in Animation at the same University in 2005.

Natalie enjoys travelling overseas to do a variety of voluntary work. She has been to Brazil, Madagascar and Ghana. She loves to experience different cultures and new adventures. Natalie painted a mural for a school in Madagascar using her distinctive characters.

Hyperactive 6 year old Zack, constantly ignores his mother's demands to do his homework as he flits from one activity to another.

Sofie Redfern - Dead Air

Sofie graduated from Staffordshire University with a 2:1 in Fine Art in 2016. Since then she has been using the same medium as she did during university, which is video and sound. However she has also been working on digital prints, using Photoshop to create a colourful and abstract glitch pattern on photographs. In her work she enjoys experimenting with combining digital and analogue imagery, using technology as an assistant in her work. During her time at university she was diagnosed with Dyspraxia, and since then has found ways to work with the disability, by acknowledging and using her strengths. For instance, her dyspraxia causes a sensitivity to sound, and so she has been working with sound as a material a lot more since discovering this. Her work focuses on abstract concepts including existentialism and time as a human construct. Her work is now getting featured in exhibitions around the UK and internationally.

'Dead Air' utilizes digitally enhanced instruments to make the listener aware of the sound travelling in a circular motion as it pans from left to right. The sound, a digitally distorted bassoon, was edited to create a resonance similar to a gravelly texture to accompany a large scale recording of the moon, configuring it so that it sounds as though the listener is travelling along the moon's surface.

The arrangement of the melody is reminiscent of the sound of a phone being hung up, playing in a repetitive sequence. As the sound plays out it appears as though the main subject, the moon, is being pulled into the scene, providing a powerful introduction to what we know as the symbol of the night.

The film looks at the way we spend our time during the night as humanity hanging up on their experience in the daytime, preparing for another phone call with the following sunrise.

Kasia Zimnoch & Pawel Kleszczewski - Broken Tale

Kasia Zimnoch and Paweł Kleszczewski are duo of Polish filmmakers and visual artists living in Ireland. They create animations based on mythology, folklore and legends. In their animations, they combine artistic experience with elements of art history, ethnology and cultural anthropology. Both graduated with an MA from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. In 2013, they established an animation studio ‘Konik Studio’ in Cavan.

This year they have been awarded the “Młoda Polska” Scholarship from Polish National Centre for Culture. Their recent animation ‘Broken Tale’ received Best Animation Award of XXIX Fano Film Festival in Italy, and was presented at numerous international festivals. Works on the project were conducted during artistic residencies in Jönköping in Sweden, Centre For Creative Industries in Tartu, Estonia and in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland. They received the Cavan County Council Arts Development Award 2018. They also received the Polish Culture Around the World grant funded by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. In 2017 they were nominated for the BLOOOM Award by WARSTEINER 2017 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

In animation we combine Slavic folklore with Scandinavian and Celtic. The plot was inspired by Swedish folk tale Sagan om lilla älgtjuren Skutt och prinsessan Tuvstarr, showing girl’s symbolic journey to the of the girl to lake hidden in the depths of the forest. Her companion and mystical guide is Elk (the forest king in Swedish folklore). During the trip girl meets creatures known from folklore of different European nations. The ‘Broken Tale’ project consist of 2D works, paintings, prints, drawings.

James Olivo - Give Attention

James is dyslexic, has dyspraxia and strong indicators of Attention Deficit Disorder. James is also mainly a movement artist, composed of many styles within the two trees of contemporary and hip hop. James is also passionate about finding his unique way of filmmaking. The way he works is to work without storyboard, and film whatever his eye finds intriguing to him. Then to piece things together, according to his eye and gut. Striving heavily for raw, honest, genuine, human behaviour/actions/expressions. A more abstract, less-information, simple but complex, kind of artist.

The film is also about the thoughts an individual might have, when told they have these learning difficulties... Maybe that they need help? Now labelled with 'learning difficulties'. Should I think less of myself? and so on...

Campbell McConnell - Deck Chair

Born in London in 1995 Campbell Mcconnell is an artist living and working in London. Campbell Studied at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Central St Martins College of Art and Design and Art and Design at City and Islington College. Campbell Uses the grotesque to potentially parody cultural ideas of success. Challenging expectations of identity within popular culture through absurd humour.

A constant repetition of an attempt to sit in a deck chair. The performer is faced with a dilemma, that is a badly made deck chair. The beached themed music and bright colors attempts to mask the idea of trial and error. The constant need to achieve and succeed at a task can be tedious. This task being the attempt to place ones self successfully onto a deck chair.

ALL FILMS WILL BE SCREENED CONTINUOUSLY THROUGHOUT THE FESTIVAL

Listing Information*

Awards Ceremony, Gala & Gin Reception: 14th March, 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM, £30.00

Industry Panel Discussion: 15th March, 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM, £10.00

Daily festival screenings: 15th March, 1-7 PM; 16th-18th March, 1-8:30 PM, £5.00

*All tickets will include £1 booking fee. Tickets are an extra £5.00 on the door.

TICKETS ARE LIMITED - BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Listing information*

Awards Ceremony, Gala & Gin Reception: 14th March, 7:30-10:00 PM, £30.00

Industry Panel Discussion: 15th March, 7:30- 9:30 PM, £10.00

Daily festival screenings: 15th March, 1:00-7:00 PM; 16th-18th March, 1:00-8:30 PM, £5.00

*All tickets will include £1 booking fee. Tickets are an extra £5.00 on the door.

DIMIF FINALISTS

Aurora Fearnley - Murmur

Aurora is an award winning writer/director with ten years of professional experience, and a visual storyteller inspired by science, myths and psychology. She graduated with a First BA Degree from The Northern Film School. In Leeds she started the company Little Northern Light and co-founded Production Company Left Eye Blind, through which she directed a number of promos and commercials. In 2009, the company signed to Academy Films.

“A young woman makes a dawn escape from a commune she has grown to distrust. It is a film about how we perceive events differently based on our past experiences. Comfort and security to one person is a confined prison to another.”

Sam Johnson - God’s Lonely Man

Sam Johnson is an independent filmmaker, currently working in short and experimental film. A graduate from Falmouth University, he has worked on a number of short films in a variety of roles taking particular interest in sound design, editing and directing. Sam’s most recent project is a short film for his final year entitled God’s Lonely Man, which he wrote and directed. He continues to pursue his interests in film and music and is currently working on a feature length script, which he hopes to pursue as his next project.

“In the moors of south-west medieval England, a delirious pilgrim voyages through perilous lands in search of a hallowed monastery, leading him to the site of a mysterious dream.”

James McColl - Celebrating Ageing

Originally from Devon, James McColl graduated from Southampton Solent University with a B.A. in film and has returned to the South-West to become a freelance writer and visual artist. I am one third of First Line Theatre, a small theatre group that creates site specific live art. As a writer and artist he strives to critically discuss art and its ability to communicate ideas with the aim to reach people outside of the art world. James loves film, live art and comedy and tries to create as much as possible. He also regularly writes for The Skinny, Made In Plymouth and several other magazines. 

“Having discovered the family archive of super-8 home movies, video artist James McColl has retraced the different parts of his grandmother’s life; stitching together family holidays, gatherings and present day interviews. He explores her coming to grips with deteriorating health, and how she reflects upon life through these gathered memories. This found footage documentary is an attempt to talk about our cultural fear of ageing.”

Kate Aries - Foil

Kate was recently awarded a Distinction Classification for her Masters Degree in Fine Art from the Winchester School of Art. She was selected as one of the best graduates in the region for inclusion in Platform, a project in association with five galleries: Aspex, De La Warr, Turner Contemporary, Milton Keynes Gallery and Modern Art Oxford. Outside of her institutional environments, she has been involved in a variety of exhibitions and projects; she collaborated with international artists on a residency to produce works that became part of a touring exhibition. She worked with a team of artists to coordinate the British Art Show 8 Southampton Fringe; as well as also being commissioned to solely project manage her own exhibition. She is also involved in the Filiart (Feminism in London) artist group and the Nasty Women Movement, recently showing her work at Nasty Women London, an exhibition that had over 3000 people attend the opening night. Since graduating, she has completed two Internships, one at A Space Southampton and one at the Theatre Royal Winchester. These experiences have led her to her current position, whilst still practicing as an Artist of course; she is also working in events management at an arts venue in Oxford.

I explore perception and illusion through experimentation with the camera, using different techniques to obscure and restrict my body. I use my body as a way of questioning my identity in the contemporary world as a woman physically, sexually, virtually and digitally: creating a tension between a position of sexuality and one of vulnerability. I have grown to realise how ingrained everyday sexism is in our society.

Feminism and female solidarity have become an important part of my practice, as well as the adverse effects of isolation and helplessness. The body is increasingly represented to us through digital mediation. My practice focuses not only on embodied experience, but also the manipulated and processed image and the mutability of identities in this increasingly mediatised society.

Gregory Hayman - Dog

Gregory Hayman is an artist member of Studio 1.1 Gallery in London and has a hybrid practice examining the themes of looking and memory often through the prism of Art History. He has exhibited widely in the UK and overseas.

Hayman’s practice is underpinned by extensive research and he produces a range of 'epistemic objects' or 'research artworks'. In other words, he makes artworks to investigate the subject of his study, linking practical outcomes in a virtuous circle. Last year, Hayman exhibited work in 10 exhibitions including Fountain17, a Hull City of Culture exhibition, alongside artists including Assemble, the Turner Prize Winners from 2015; and shows in Berlin, Athens, London twice, Newcastle twice, Norwich, Stoke on Trent.

This video artwork is a response to the migrant crisis and the death of the three-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi. It takes as its starting point an artwork, as is usual with my work, and explores synergies between the artwork and events. The artwork I chose is Goya’s Dog, or El Perro or Perro Semihundido. It is one one of Goya’s so-called ‘Black Paintings’. It is an intensely moving painting where the dog is given almost human like expression in the way it looks up tragically pleading for help. I usually spend a huge amount of time researching each artwork, and this one is no exception. But, whereas the research is not shown, this work is the research conducted via browsing the web.

Kaiya Stone - Everything Is Going to Be KO

Kaiya Stone is a filmmaker, theatre director, and writer. She was born in Leeds and grew up in Cape Town, upstate New York and Batley, West Yorkshire. She studied Classics at St Hilda’s College, Oxford University where she was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia. Everything is going to be KO is a film and a one-person show with a book-in-progress. She is a co-founder of the production company Transgress - a collective focused on exploring disability, sexuality, and gender.

Downtown 500 Magazine - No, It Is Not; Not Always. The Self-Fear!

It is a story of the eccentric proto/antagonist of modern times (the Meta Man, the Metamodernist) who is balancing between the Modern vs Postmodern legacies. He/ she is a contemporary creative partner or a new authority – a new artist, an ambitious dilettante in his/ her purity and directness at his/her maximalist stage; explaining his/her achievements along fears, concerns, affairs, failures, addictions etc...

The project explores CONTRADICTIONS AND ABSURDITIES like constructions vs. reconstructions, projections vs. rejections, apathy vs sensibility, postmodern irony vs metamodernist "here I am", prejudices vs freedom, manipulations vs. deviation etc...

ALL FILMS WILL BE SCREENED CONTINUOUSLY THROUGHOUT THE FESTIVAL

Listing information*

Awards Ceremony, Gala & Gin Reception: 14th March, 7:30-10:00 PM, £30.00

Industry Panel Discussion: 15th March, 7:30- 9:30 PM, £10.00

Daily festival screenings: 15th March, 1:00-7:00 PM; 16th-18th March, 1:00-8:30 PM, £5.00

*All tickets will include £1 booking fee. Tickets are an extra £5.00 on the door.

Deborah Williams - Panel Chair

“This festival is a vital next step in the growth of DYSPLA. I am looking forward to facilitating the panel discussion, getting to see the films and hearing from the artists.”

Deborah Williams is CEO of the Creative Diversity Network (CDN) - the body funded by the UK’s major broadcasters, which brings together organisations across the UK television industry to promote, celebrate and share good practice around the diversity agenda. As CEO, Deborah is responsible for the strategic direction of CDN, delivering all aspects of the organisation’s activities; including the ground-breaking Diamond diversity monitoring scheme, diversity talent databases, online resources and the CDN awards.

Prior to joining CDN, Deborah was Diversity Manager at the British Film Institute (BFI), where she opened and managed a £1m lottery fund for diversity, designed the BFI diversity standards for film, and contributed to the BFI business plan and strategy. Before joining the BFI, Deborah was the Senior Officer for Equality and Diversity at Arts Council England.

Deborah is also an award winning actress, as well as being a writer and theatre maker with 20 years’ experience in creating and presenting distinctive, high quality work that challenges ideas of difference and diversity.

D-Fuse

“I think that events like this are important because by facing the stigma of dyslexia and neurodivergence in our society head on, we almost supersede it and turn it into something positive.”

Our commissioned artist D-Fuse will be creating a live 3D installation on the opening night of DIMIF, as well as being part of our panel on the Panel Discussion night on the 15th of March.

D-Fuse are a London-based artist collective who work across a range of media. Founded in the mid-1990s by Michael Faulkner, D-Fuse’s output encompasses installations, film, experimental documentary, photography, live cinema performances and architectural projects.

Beginning in graphic and web design and VJing, D-Fuse’s work has evolved to address social and environmental themes and explore collaborative processes. Besides work with groundbreaking musicians from a wide range of genres including Steve Reich, Beck, Hauschka, Scanner and Swayzak, much of D-Fuse’s output since 2004 includes sound and music by audio director Matthias Kispert.

Their work has been shown internationally, including SFMOMA, WRO Festival [Wroclaw], Prix Ars Electronica [Linz], Sonar [Barcelona], onedotzero Festivals, Eyebeam and TriBeCa Film Festival [NYC], MU and STRPFestival [Eindhoven], Lisbon and Valencia Bienniale, Moscow Architectural Biennale, and many others. The D-Fuse-edited book VJ: Audiovisual Art and VJ Culture was published by Laurence King in 2007.

Chris Arnold

“I think it is great that we can both celebrate dyslexia and inspire others. For me dyslexia has been a gift and an opportunity to see things in ways others cannot imagine.”

Chris is a Creative Director and founder of the brand marketing and creative ad agency Creative Orchestra.

He is also the founder of The Garage, a specialist disruptive innovation consultancy that helps companies think differently and deliberately uses dyslexics. He was a board director and a Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi before setting up FEEL – the UK’s first ethical marketing & advertising agency.

He is one of the UK’s leading experts in ethical marketing and author of Ethical Marketing & The New Consumer (published by Wiley). Being a dyslexic himself, he is a champion of dyslexia – believing that “every board room should hire a dyslexic.” Despite being dyslexic, he has written a weekly blog on ethical marketing on Brand Republic for almost 10 years, as well as pieces for many other publications.

He has also written the mini-insights reports Why Women Shop on Venus & Men Shop on Mars and co-written insighst reports The Truth About Students and The Content insight Guide to Millennials and Students. He’s currently writing THUNK (a different way to think) which is based on his creative thinking workshops.

A former board member of the DMA (Europe’s largest marketing trade body) he’s been the Chairman of both the Agency Council and the Creative Council. He is passionate about community and founded the UK’s largest community arts festival – The Crouch End Arts Festival. He also runs The Intimate Space, “London’s smallest and coolest venue”, as it’s been described, based in a 500 year old church tower in Hornsey. The venture is designed to support young people’s creative talents.

Chris has written for many publications, including the FT, Creative Review, Campaign, Marketing, Impact, The Times, Third Sector, Brand Strategy and Brand Republic – Europe’s largest marketing online site.

He’s also appeared as a marketing expert on BBC’s Working Lunch, Watchdog (3 times) and in a number of documentaries on marketing. On Channel 4 (Food Unwrapped, Superfoods and Despatches) and the BBC. On radio – BBC and LBC. Plus online TV channels.

He lectures around the world on creativity, marketing, brand, innovation & futurology, ethical marketing, Proximity Mobile Marketing and Disruptive Innovation.

Sara Putt

“I think the festival is going to talk about some key issues, and I'm excited about taking part in the festival's discussion on improving the diversity in the business.”

Sara runs Sara Putt Associates. Based at Shepperton Studios, her company is the leading independent UK agency for film and television heads of department - providing personal management and representation within feature films, TV drama, documentaries and entertainment for over 20 years. Alongside the Agency, the Diary Service provides diary management and production knowledge for crew.

Keen on nurturing new talent, in 2011 Sara Putt Associates launched the 'Trainee & Assistants Scheme' providing opportunities to those at the start of their careers. They collaborate with film and television agents in the US and work alongside literary agency ‘Sayle Screen’.

Sara also sits on the BAFTA Board and TV Committee Chairs, BAFTA’s Learning and New Talent Committee, and is Deputy Chair of WFTV.

Mike Forshaw

“I am very honoured and excited to reveal that SATURDAY has been selected for the DYSPLA International Moving Image Festival. During the festival I will be taking part in a panel discussion about dyslexia, and I could not be prouder. As someone who was only diagnosed with dyslexia whilst at university, I strongly believe that open conversation is vitally important to raise public awareness and understanding for a condition that many people still do not fully understand. This event will hopefully provide an excellent opportunity to discuss how my dyslexia has shaped me as a director and why my diagnosis was so liberating.”

Born and raised in Liverpool, Mike studied film at Northumbria University before moving to London to study Fiction Direction at the National Film & Television School. His graduation film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival, and his shorts have screened at numerous UK and international film festivals.

In 2013, Saturday was awarded a top prize during Nisi Masa’s European Short Pitch, and the film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2015. In 2014 Mike was selected for TorinoFilmLab’s AdaptLab workshop, and is currently developing his first feature, King of Grain, with Agile Films.

Jim Rokos

“After everything we have said about the creative gifts that the neurodiverse mind can bring to creativity, a festival of alternative thinking brings an enormous pressure to deliver the truly exceptional. With the red tape fallen away, I am very excited to see what will be achieved.”

Originally training as a model-maker in the film and TV industry (working on The Muppet Treasure Island, Band of Brothers, Tomb Raider, Victoria and Albert), Jim went on to teach at a school in London before completing a Master’s degree in Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins College.

In close collaboration with Ab Rogers, in 2016 Jim curated the very first ‘Dyslexic Design’ exhibition, which was hosted by designjunction, also at King’s Cross on Granary Square. The show challenged perceptions of dyslexia by accentuating its positive effects and its close association with design. ‘Dyslexic Design’ is a ‘Silver Winner’ in the London Design Awards; category: Pop-Ups, Display, Exhibit & Set Design. It was also nominated for the ‘iF Social Impact Prize 2017′ for Health & Demographic Change. Many now consider Jim's work to be a symbol of the gifts that dyslexia can bring.

Jim also runs 'Rokos'- his brand of playful and sculptural glassware that behave in unexpected ways... Exceptional products express their character - they come to life when they are used! They can take on the mood of the users (13° 60° 104° Decanter) or they can express the behaviour of the object contained (Gauge flower vase).

Rokos won the prestigious 2012 ‘Reddot Design Award’ for the 13° 60° 104° Wine Decanter and the Enterprise Europe Network Award 2014 for the Gauge vase. The vase also won the ‘German Design Award 2017′ for Excellent Product Design and the Smoke colour Gauge has won the ‘LUX Designer Awards 2018′ for 'Most Original Glassware Design'. In addition to this, Jim has been awarded the 'Best Glassware Designer 2018 - United Kingdom' by the LUX Designer Awards.

Jim's innovative cat-food bowl won BBC1’s Tomorrow’s World's Best Inventions pilot in 2001. His Blindspot series is Design Parade selected (2007). In 2008, he won an ‘RSA Design Directions’ award and in 2012, the ‘Faces of Design’ award.

Helen Taylor

“I am very honoured to be part of the Panel Discussion on the Dyslexic Aesthetic at the DYSPLA festival. The broader information processing style of dyslexics really lends itself to greater recombination and translation that underlies novelty and originality. It will be fascinating to see the films and hear my dyslexic panel members describe how their dyslexic cognition shapes their work.”

Dr. Helen Taylor studied initially at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, she was diagnosed with dyslexia herself after nearly being thrown out of her undergraduate degree. She went on to achieve a 1st class honours for her degree as well as several prizes and won a scholarship to study her Masters. On completion she was awarded the highest mark in the history of the department along with several research awards including the Petrie Prize and Seton Lloyd Memorial Prize. After completing a Sackler Fellowship at The British Museum she won a full AHRC scholarship to study her doctorate at the University of Cambridge where she investigated the emergence of social complexity.

Alongside this she started mentoring undergraduate and Ph.D students with dyslexia, ADHD, dyspraxia and autism. Frustrated by the lack of appreciation of these kinds of cogition she became determined during her time at Cambridge to understand what these differences were. By combining insights from her Ph.D, and research into the cognitive differences and strengths found in dyslexia, she developed a new theory of human evolution named The Evolution of ComplementaryCognition. This shows that different kinds of cogntion were not only fundamental to the adaptive success of our species, but are critical to organisational effectiveness in the modern world. Helen is currently working to publish the results of her research. To learn more follow Helen on Twitter.

Tickets

DYSPLA is extremely excited to welcome our esteemed panel members for an academic discussion on the DYSLEXIC AESTHETIC. It will take place on the second night of the festival, 15th of March 2018 at 7:00 PM, so save the date if you’re up for a debate! There are only 30 tickets available so book your tickets today.

Buy your Panel Discussion tickets here for £10

Listing Information*

Awards Ceremony, Gala & Gin Reception: 14th March, 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM, £30.00

Industry Panel Discussion: 15th March, 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM, £10.00

Daily festival screenings: 15th March, 1-7 PM; 16th-18th March, 1-8:30 PM, £5.00

(All films will be screened continuously throughout the festival) *All tickets will include £1 booking fee. Tickets are an extra £5.00 on the door.

INTRODUCING D-FUSE, OUR COMMISSIONED ARTIST

Michael Faulkner is a moving image innovator and pioneer, and the founder of D-Fuse Collective. He has been commissioned by DYSPLA to create a 3D installation at The Crypt Gallery in St. Pancras on the 14th March 2018.

DYSPLA love D-Fuse’s socialist approach to collaboration, sharing of materials, ideas and working methods - thus producing an eclectic mix of aesthetics in the work and breaking new creative grounds.

We have met with him last week to run a series of test projections at our venue, and to talk about some of the things that had inspired Mike to work with us:

"Being part of a dyslexic film festival frees up my creativity and almost gets rid of any walls or ‘rules’ which could otherwise be present. I think that events like this are important because by facing the stigma of dyslexia and neurodivergence in our society head on, we almost supersede it and turn it into something positive." - Michael Faulkner

The festival will commence with the Awards Ceremony, Gala and Drinks Reception on 14th March 2018. Our Gala guests will be the first to experience all the award-winning films in an immersive gallery setting, opening with commissioned video artist D-Fuse, who will create a live multi-channel holographic smoke installation. There are only 50 tickets on sale for the Awards Ceremony and Gala, which is always our most popular event, so make sure you book your tickets in advance!

Buy Gala tickets now for £30

Listing Information*

Award Ceremony and Gala: 14th March, 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM, £30.00 Screenings + panel discussion: 15th March, 1-7 PM + 7:30 PM, £10.00 Daily festival screenings: 16th-18th March, 1-8:30 PM, £5.00

(All films will be screened continuously throughout the festival) *All tickets will include £1 booking fee. Tickets are an extra £5.00 on the door.

IN PREPARATION FOR THE FESTIVAL

Are you a fighter with a story?!

Are you a boxer or martial artist with a story? Want your story to be part of an innovative and exciting film festival?

We are filming this Saturday in North London, so please get in touch today.

Contact festival organisers

OTHER UPCOMING DYSPLA EXHIBITIONS

DYSPLA is participating in the Art.Number23 'Chapter I' art exhibition this week, which is the very first event in their new exhibition space! We are excited to be showing the film Washed Up Babies - our take on a modern-day psychopomp. Click the link to watch the trailer on our website.

Washed Up Babies has been exhibited nationally: at the Tea Break Festival in Hull; Underneath the Floorboards in London; and Blowing a Gail in Warrington, as well as internationally at: Alternative Film Festival in Toronto, Canada; Gstaadfilm Festival in Uruguay; 30th Minimalen Short Film Festival in Trodenhiem, Norway; and is set to exhibit at 21st ZOOM Film Festival in Poland this month.

'Chapter I' is a group show of international and UK-based artist. The theme of the exhibition relates to new beginnings and important changes in life. Let us know if you can make it!

Private View: 9th February, 18.30pm - 21.30pm Opening times: 10th February - 14th February, 11.00am-18.00pm For more info, visit the Facebook event page.

Another one of our short films, You Will Fail Her, is set to exhibit in March at both SHAPE Open 2018 exhibition in London, as well as SheFest festival in Sheffield.

You Will Fail Her is a one woman performance about mental health and the educational apartheid that blights British society. Click the link to watch the trailer on our website.

More information about the festival & our partners

DYSPLA was established in 2007 to exhibit and produce the work of dyslexic and neurodiverse story makers. From our early stages we have produced and exhibited work internationally, establishing ourselves at the forefront of the dyslexic and neurodiverse creative community.

DIMIF has secured mentorships with industry professionals and further development opportunities for their Award winning filmmakers. The Award Categories are: Best Story Innovator, Best Experimental Film, Dyslexic Creative Champion. These awards will be judged by DYSPLA's esteemed panel made up of elite members of the creative industry.

DIMIF is excited to be partnering with Canvas Media, an Arts Council-funded initiative aimed at helping arts organisations engage with audiences on digital platforms.

DYSPLA International Moving Image Festival was made possible by funding from Arts Council England. ACE are integral to keeping arts and cultural events like DIMIF alive, and DYSPLA would like to thank them for giving us the chance to showcase incredible dyslexic and neurodivergent filmmakers.

LV: Lennie Varvarides, MF: Michael Faulkner

LV: How did you hear about DYSPLA?

MF: Being dyslexic and knowing that lots of film directors and artists are dyslexic, I searched out to try to find a dyslexic film festival, and the only one I could find was DYSPLA, which I found on FilmFreeway and subscribed to their mailing list.

LV: What made you want to be involved in the DYSPLA International Moving Image Festival?

MF: I was looking for an avenue to present some of my films through a dyslexic lens, so people could appreciate them in a different sort of way. Being part of a dyslexic film festival frees up my creativity and almost gets rid of any walls or ‘rules’ which could otherwise be present. I think that events like this are important because by facing the stigma of dyslexia and neurodivergence in our society head on, we almost supersede it and turn it into something positive.

LV: Can you describe what the dyslexic aesthetic is?

MF: The keyword is structure. I would say that one of the factors that sets apart a dyslexic filmmaker from the rest is an obsession with specific details, as well as fast-forwarding and re-winding of other elements. This makes the work seem ‘out of sync’ and gives it a very particular feel, kind of like going through things at a speed of light.

LV: Do you think your work is an example of the dyslexic aesthetic?

MF: Yes, because there is a focus of a non-narrative structure to it – it exists in a 3D space and serves to fill this space visually. There’s a certain intuitiveness about it. I like to speed things up and slow things down; not necessarily working with current time. Often certain images are associated with one another, but there is a strong de-fragmented approach throughout.

LV: When did you find out you were dyslexic?

MF: Officially about 5 years ago.

LV: So, you're quite new to the ‘gang’! Would you say life has improved since your diagnosis?

MF: Well I’d say yes and no in some ways, because it actually gives you an emotional crutch so to speak – and now I can just… blame dyslexia! Or maybe I should say thank dyslexia? It only frustrates me to think that had I known about it before, I might have been more equipped for it. But to be honest, I don’t think society was equipped for it anyway, and in many ways still isn’t. Things are changing though, and people now are a lot more open to topics like neurodivergence, which definitely gives hope for more understanding in the future.

Michael Faulkner is a moving image innovator and pioneer, and the founder of D-Fuse Collective. He has been commissioned by DYSPLA to create a 3D installation at The Crypt Gallery in St. Pancras on the 14th March 2018.

DYSPLA love D-Fuse’s socialist approach to collaboration; sharing of materials, ideas and working methods - which produces an eclectic mix of aesthetics in the work and continually breaks new creative grounds.

In previous works, D-Fuse has focused on themes like the spatio-temporal qualities of light and motion, as well as the creation of complex mixed-media installations exploring global political and environmental issues. Given that his work is seldom presented in the form of a linear narrative, it will be interesting to see how he responds to the challenge of creating a ‘dyslexic narrative’.

The unique backdrop and ambience of The Crypt Gallery will allow for experimentation with multiple projectors, and dry smoke audio/visual manipulation through the Matrox box, giving the audience an unprecedented experience of a new type of festival - one that merges the essence of the art gallery with the expected narrative of a traditional film festival.

Here, D-Fuse will experiment with narrative by manipulating multi-channel mixing tables to project and construct new meaning, reconstructing non-linear, abstract elements of the same story. Ultimately, this story is going to be one that is universal in DYSPLA work: the story of under-representation in our society - be it social, economic or political. DYSPLA will provide the narrative based footage through a series of interviews with both amateur and professional boxers/mixed martial artists from the Supreme Boxing Club in Enfield. We will ask them why they fight and how fighting gives them the edge in life... the edge that keeps them alive!

This installation will be projected live only once on the 14th March 2018 and there are only 50 tickets available to witness this incredible spectacle.  For tickets, please book in advance by clicking the link below.

Listing information*

Award Ceremony and Gala: 14th March, 7:30 PM - 10:00 PM, £30.00 Screenings + panel discussions: 15th March, 1-7 PM + 7:30 PM, £10.00 Daily festival screenings: 16th-18th March, 1-8:30 PM, £5.00

(All films will be screened continuously throughout the festival) *All tickets will include £1 booking fee. All tickets are an extra £5.00 on the door

Buy tickets now

Contact festival organisers