Autism Through Cinema

In a break with our normal schedule, and posted a week early, we bring you a special episode where we reflect on the nature of 'Relaxed Screenings'.

You might have seen these advertised at cinemas - special events organised with autistic and neurodivergent audiences in mind. Typically the lights are dimmed but not fully turned off, the volume is lowered, there's an understanding among the audience that there may be people fidgeting or making noise, and there's often a separate room set aside as a quiet space. All these accommodations are to be welcomed, but perhaps there are also some problems that arise from trying to create a 'one size fits all' approach to autism-friendly screenings? Also, who chooses the films that are shown in these relaxed screenings? What might happen when the curators are autistic themselves?

To discuss all this, Ethan and David have invited Maggi Hurt, a programmer at the British Film Institute in the Southbank, London. Maggi has been responsible for devising and programming the 'Relaxed Series' screenings where she has worked in collaboration with autistic film lovers to curate events for autistic audiences. For their upcoming 'In Dreams are Monsters' season, our very own Ethan Lyon has taken up the challenge, and has programmed two horror films for the Relaxed Series. We talk about Ethan's choices, while also reflecting on how relaxed screenings work and what their future might be.

Tickets are still available for Ethan's screenings, and the man himself will be there to lead a Q&A discussion session afterwards at both events. Here are the details:

Pontypool - Monday 31st October 2022, 18:10, NFT3. Tickets here: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=pontypoolrelaxed

The Fly - Monday 28th November 2022, 18:00, NFT3. Tickets here: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=flyrelaxed

Also, David mentions a book by autistic journalist Laura Kate Dale, who writes a little about relaxed screenings. The book is called Uncomfortable Labels and you can find it here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/uncomfortable-labels/laura-kate-dale/9781785925870

On the 9th September 2023 the ATC podcast team will be appearing live at The Garden Cinema in Covent Garden, London.

There will be a screening of Celine Song’s critically acclaimed debut film ‘Past Lives’ at 14:50 followed by a panel discussion & Q&A with Lillian, Georgia, Ethan and David.

The screening will be a relaxed screening, and tickets can be purchased here: https://www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/relaxed-screening-past-lives/

Read more about 'Past Lives' in this 5-star review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/06/past-lives-review-a-must-see-story-of-lost-loves-childhood-crushes-and-changing-identities

There's a Peter Greenaway season happening over at the BFI in London, and our Lillian recently conducted an interview with the man himself, which you can find here:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/beginning-was-image-interview-with-peter-greenaway

We thought, therefore, that it was high time we covered Greenaway, especially with Ethan boldly describing the director's work as one of the 'most autistic'...

Lillian and Ethan get together with Georgia to tackle Greenaway's first feature-length film, the epic apocalyptic mockumentary The Falls. We find an autistic mode in the film's approach to categorising and cataloguing, and connect strongly with Greenaway's interest in attempting to both capture and elude a wholeness and totality.

We also enjoy the film's absurdist imagery, and its complex approach to the use of language, particularly in relation to finding new words and visual imagery for what cannot be easily expressed. The mention of autism in relation to Greenaway on the documentary The Greenaway Alphabet is warmly received and enables our team to be all that more effusive about autistic presence in The Falls, and the affirmation of autistic presence in filmmaking more widely.

Catch the Greenaway season at the BFI across November and December, and also on the BFI Player.

And, if you're quick, you might be able to see Ethan in the flesh when he gives his introduction to David Cronenberg's The Fly at the BFI on Monday 28th November 2022. Tickets still available here.

A huge welcome today to our final special guest, the wonderful Alex Gregson. Alex is Head of Audio at 344 Audio, and has led on the edits of the last eight episodes of our podcast, for which we are eternal grateful. He is newly diagnosed as autistic and reflects very thoughtfully on how his autism has contributed positively to his career as a sound engineer and audio editor.

For our analysis, Alex brings along Alejandro González Iñárritu's Academy Award winning 2015 revenge thriller The Revenant, and asks David and Lillian to pay particular attention to the rich soundscape of the film. We discuss the careful detailing of the sound design, as well as Iñárritu's concoction of a 'cacajanga' soundscape. We find autistic resonance in the meticulous attention paid to the layering of the natural sounds of the wild landscapes, as well as the precise choices made in the levels of balance between sound effects, score and dialogue.

We move on the reflect on some of the challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals who are sensitive to sound, and consider how filmmakers might rethink their approach to final mix of a movie to better accommodate those who might struggle with such sensory input.

A huge thanks again to Alex for joining us, and for doing such a brilliant job of editing our latest batch of episodes. For more on the work that 344 Audio do, you can visit their website here: https://www.344audio.com/

In Mick Jackson's TV film Temple Grandin, Claire Danes shines in the title role, portraying one of the world's most famous autistic women. Temple is shown to be a formidable force of nature as she takes on the professors of her college, and the workers of the feedlot where she will eventually design her famous cattle chute system. We discuss how the film makes use of animation techniques to offer a visualisation of Temple's way of 'thinking in pictures', although we reserve concerns that this may essentialise autism a little too much. We consider Temple in relation to her gender as a strong female character in many very masculine environments, and what impression this leaves us for thinking through autistic femininity.

Temple Grandin will be screened on the 16th September at our Autism and Cinema season at the Barbican, London. The film will be followed by a short pre-recorded interview with the real Temple, and then a Q&A with podcast host Dr David Hartley, and Dr Bonnie Evans, author of The Metamorphosis of Autis m. Tickets are free and can be bought from the Barbican website: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2021/event/temple-grandin-pg-screentalk

If you have enjoyed this episode, please leave us a comment or feedback, or get in touch on cinemautism[at]gmail.com