Call To Action Screening + Panel
Join us for a powerful Call to Action Screening with a panel. Please review the content notes and warnings for each of the films. Some include graphic content. We will give a content warning at the beginning of the program.
Date: Friday, October 17th
Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PT | 3:00 - 4:30 ET
Virtual: On Zoom
Access: ASL | Captions | Closed Audio Descriptions | Virtual
Film Lineup:
Rising Tides Raising Voices
Hear from Indigenous Pacific Islanders with disabilities who are championing disability-inclusive climate action.
Equal World?
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.
Renegades
A series of docu-shorts about 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 knowledge of disability history.
Voice Notes From Palestine
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.
An image of Panelist Dr. Itab Shuayb, a woman with black hair wearing a white coat and a navy blouse against a backdrop of green trees and a blue sky.
Panelists:
Dr. Itab Shuayb
Producer of Voice Notes from Palestine
Dr. Itab Shuayb is an academic and researcher specializing in inclusive design at the Centre for Lebanese Studies. She is currently an Academic Visiting Scholar with the Inclusive Design Group at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on identifying and quantifying exclusion in universities, aiming to redefine how institutions measure and address exclusionary practices in higher education in the UK, Lebanon, and globally. Dr. Shuayb is deeply committed to improving accessibility and fostering inclusive environments in education, the built environment, and media production. Her vision is to mainstream inclusive design as a core principle in architectural spaces, teaching and learning practices, and digital media. Beyond academia, Dr. Shuayb has contributed to the film industry, serving as an Associate Producer on a project that aligns with her commitment to equity and inclusion.
A Black woman with chin-length, curly hair stands against a softly textured, blue wall. She is smiling warmly with her arms crossed. She wears a short-sleeved black shirt with a white pattern and light denim jeans.
Cashmere Jasmine
Director of an episode of Renegades: Untold Stories of Black Americans
This late-diagnosed autistic filmmaker and expolitical theorist has traded soapboxes for cameras, using dark humor to examine first-world problems against the backdrop of middle age and impending apocalypse. Her work spans music videos, indie films, and projects for Disney+ ('23) and PBS (American Masters '24, American Experience '25), earning NAACP nominations, Webby Awards, and Tellys along the way - all while maintaining her signature blend of intellectualism and irreverence.
A blind Samoan woman, stands outside in front of a lush garden of yellow, red, and green plants. Her brown hair is pulled back, and she has a white flower with a green and pink center tucked behind her ear. She is wearing a white dress with a pattern of pink leaves.
Faaolo Utumapu-Utailesolo
Producer of Rising Tides Raising Voices
Rising Tides, Raising Voices producer Faaolo Utumapu-Utailesolo is a blind filmmaker from Samoa. Her film Dramatic Waves of Change, about a disabled activist in Kiribati using theater to confront climate change, was a finalist in the Focus on Ability International Short Film Festival. Utumapu-Utailesolo is the program officer for the Pacific Island Countries for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. She is one of the founders of the disability rights movement in Samoa, having co-founded Nuanua o le Alofa in 2001.