SUPERFEST 2023 FILM SELECTIONS
Superfest 2023 will occur online Thursday, October 16th through Sunday October 19th with in-person screenings Friday October 17th, Saturday October 18th, and Sunday October 19th at the San Francisco Disability Cultural Center. Stay tuned for more information, and for now, read below to check out the blurbs for our 2025 films and save the date!
We have also put together a list of possible Content Warnings / Trigger Warnings for this year’s films if it would be useful for you. We cannot claim to have covered everything that someone might need, but we tried to be as thorough as we could. As always, take care of yourself while watching these films.
Access the Unknown
USA, 2024 (Documentary Short, 16 min)
Just because it’s challenging doesn’t mean blind people should be excluded from the beauty of the ocean. In this documentary short, Dr. Mona Minkara, a blind traveler and adventurer, takes on the challenge of scuba diving, proving that with adaptation, trust, and a willingness to access the unknown, the beauty of the world can be experienced in more ways than one.
Audio Description
*Innovation in Craft Award*
USA, 2024 (Comedic Short, 5 min)
After making a wish on his birthday, a lonely visually impaired man finds his world turned upside down by an unexpected encounter.
An Unquiet Mind
USA, 2025 (Documentary Feature, 1 hour 16 min)
Many people assume obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) revolves around excessive handwashing, perfectionism, and flipping light switches. This simplified description barely skims the surface of this disorder.
An Unquiet Mind follows two peoples’ daily lives and sheds light on a sinister side of OCD that many sufferers are too afraid to speak about.
A black and white cat peers through a hole in a wooden box. Inside the box are plants with small green leaves, and a mini disco ball hangs from above.
Contours
USA, 2024 (Dramatic Short, 12 min)
Upon using a modern art museum as the setting for a role play game that goes hopelessly awry, a deaf couple desperate to rekindle their spark finds the reconnection they seek in their shared experience over an abstract sculpture.
Poster for "As You Are," featuring a cut out picture of two young women in black and white embracing. Behind the cutout is a block of red and a cream background. The film's title and credits are in black and white text.
Disposable Humanity
*Best of Festival Award*
USA, 2024 (Documentary Feature, 1 hour 35 min)
A family’s investigation into the history and memory of the Nazi Aktion T4 program which targeted over 300,000 disabled people and catalyzed the Holocaust.
El Mundialito (Small World Cup)
*Superfest Director Selection*
Argentina, 2024 (Documentary Feature, 1 hour 16 min)
Achondroplasia is a bone growth disorder that causes the most common type of dwarfism. Facundo (Argentina), Julio (Paraguay), Vinicius (Brazil) and Fabián (Peru) are the captains of the “short” soccer teams of their countries. We see them battle ableism and compete for the prestigious Mundialito Cup.
An overhead shot of a woman with brown skin and long black hair in bed. She grimaces and has her eyes shut. White text overlay says "Chronic, inspired by a true story."
Equal World
*Best of Festival - Documentary*
United Kingdom, 2024 (Documentary Short, 23 min)
‘Equal World?’ - Not a question. A right.
The film follows disability advocate Abia Akram as she platforms the voices of three young people with disabilities: Tapiwa, Taqwa and Basiru. It shows their daily lives and talks to what is needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and an inclusive society. These intimate portraits of young campaigners allow the audience invaluable insight into why youths with disabilities are essential partners in getting the SDGs back on track.
Poster for "Culicidae" features a close up of a white man's face as he wears a breathing machine over his nose. The film's credits are in black text.
Kisses
*Innovation in Craft Award*
United Kingdom, 2025 (Dramatic Short, 8 min)
Mia, a young woman who uses a wheelchair and lives with her conservative father, is curious about love. When James, a young man with secrets, unexpectedly enters her life, she embarks on a bold journey of intimacy and self-discovery. However, an unexpected twist forces them to confront everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other.
Poster for "Fire Through Dry Grass with the title in white text. A drawing of the silhouette of a man in a wheelchair is drawn to be on fire. In the silhouette are drawings of other men from the film.
Les Monstres (Little Monsters)
*Best of Festival - Fiction*
France, 2024 (Comedic Short, 14 min)
Today, visually impaired teenager Erwan can't wait to get to school to declare his love for Agathe. Unfortunately, he first has to share a medical transport van with David, a wheelchair-bound suck-up, who tries everyday to make friends with Erwan, quite unsuccesfully. When David tries to make sure they never arrive, war is declared.
Remember
Islamic Republic of Iran, 2025 (Dramatic Short, 10 min)
An atmospheric glimpse into a man with Alzheimer’s who lives in a rural area, and seeks to find someone to help him remember his prayers.
Artwork of Brad Lomax, a Black man in a wheelchair, holding a microphone to make a speech. The streets of Oakland, CA are in the background.
Renegades: Untold Stories of Black Americans
*Disability Justice Award*
USA, 2024 (Digital Documentary Series, 10-15 min episodes)
RENEGADES is a new digital series of documentary shorts showcasing the lives and cultural contributions of little-known historical figures with disabilities. Hosted by award-winning musician and disability rights champion Lachi, and made by a team of D/deaf and disabled filmmakers, the project is designed to increase public knowledge of disability history, and encourage cross-cultural understanding between non-disabled people and those with disabilities – who make up more than 1 in 4 adults in America today.
Poster for "Of Kisses and Capes" with the title and credits in pink text. Two young people lie in bed together. They both have light skin and brown hair, and have the covers pulled up to their waists. They are turned on their sides toward each other. Finn's arm is reaching over and covering part of Isi's arm.
Rising Tides, Raising Voices
*Advocacy Award*
Samoa, 2024 (Documentary Short, 15 min)
The Pacific region is among the most impacted in the world by climate change. As part of a legacy of systemic oppression, Indigenous Pacific Islanders with disabilities are particularly at risk. Because they are less likely to be formally employed, their livelihoods depend on fishing and farming – which have been significantly affected by climate change. During disasters, the structural barriers that Pacific Islanders with disabilities face every day – like the lack of accessible information and transportation – can become a death sentence. Faced with the urgency of increasing disasters, disabled grassroots activists across the Pacific are championing disability-inclusive climate action. It’s a fight not just against nature, but against a world that often overlooks people with disabilities. Rising Tides, Raising Voices is a call for intersectional, inclusive, community-led solutions to the encroaching global crisis.
The Letter
*Jury’s Choice Award*
United Kingdom, 2024 (Dramatic Short, 28 min)
As the Nazi’s rise to power in pre WW2 Germany, a young German man named Johan decides to marry his sweetheart Ingrid. Johan’s father Karl is a member of the Nazi party and Johan fears that his father will not allow them to be married because he doesn’t want Johan to marry a Deaf girl, so keeps this a secret from him. The persecution of the Deaf community escalates and Lina’s father runs a Deaf club which becomes a target to be brought under Nazi control. When Karl finds out about their romance, Johan is forced to make a choice between his father’s will and his heart.
Poster for Take me home with the title and credits in yellow text sideways on the poster. A close up of a young Korean woman with black hair and bangs leaning over a plate and glass at the dining table. She looks off to the side.
Unholy
USA, 2024 (Dramatic Short, 13 min)
Unholy follows Noa, a young adult with a complex gastrointestinal disorder, as she attends her family's Passover Seder for the first time since being put on a feeding tube. There, she is confronted by pushy family members, malfunctioning medical devices, and a room full of food she cannot eat.
Dark blue lights in an office building illuminate two people touching palms.
Viejito/Enfermito/Grito (Old Man/Sick Man/Shout)
USA, 2023 (Experimental Short, 10 min)
Ananias, an SF Bay Area artist and immigrant, performs the folkloric Danza de los Viejitos (the Dance of the Old Men). Originally from Michoacán, Mexico, where the dance originates, Ananias interprets its movements through the lens of his spirituality, his long-term HIV-related disabilities, and his search for a place in the world.
Voice Notes From Palestine
*Disability Justice Award*
United Kingdom, 2024 (Documentary Short, 10 min)
Voice Notes from Palestine, a short film by filmmaker Amal Al-Agroobi and Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), features the testimonies of several Palestinian students with disabilities from the Islamic University of Gaza. The students recount their experiences in occupied Gaza under siege and bombardment by the Israeli military.
The students had taken part in an online-course in 2023 run by Dr Iain Overton, Director of AOAV. The course aimed to teach story-telling techniques via social media.
Aya Kafafi, who took part in the course, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in July 2024, along with her father, sister, and several of her nieces and nephews.
Poster for "Uonted" with the title and credits in white. The title's U and O are written in red scribbled over the first two letters of Wanted. Two men sit on twin sized beds across from each other.
Words To Live By
USA, 2025 (Documentary Short, 14 min)
A sign language interpreter tries to heal from childhood trauma through expanding idiomatic expression and minority representation in the deaf community.