ABOUT

Spectrum Fest is a film and media festival showcasing work from neurodiverse/divergent creators, disabled artists, and Deaf creators, and others who have traditionally experienced and continue experiencing barriers to practice.

Like always we will be hosting a screenings, live talks, and a community event. The theme of films and talks will be focused on ‘shifting the lens’ in film production by showcasing people telling their own stories!.

Originally started as a festival to promote and celebrate creative work from the autism spectrum, Spectrum Fest is now in its third year and expanding the scope and mandate to one of wider inclusion, accepting submissions from all surrounding communities that face barriers to getting their work shown or recognized on a professional level.

For the month of April 2022, we hope you will join us for a series of Spectrum Fest events kicking off with the March 24th Online Community Challenges Final Celebration Event.

The main Spectrum Fest event will be on April 9th IN-PERSON at the J.A. de Sève cinema event, featuring a 4 part event, scheduled as follows:

• 1pm - ‘Tiny Shorts’ film screening

• 2pm - ‘Shifting the Lens’ film screening

• 3pm - ‘Shifting the Lens’ discussion

• 4pm - ‘Spectrum Live Season Two’ pre-production information session (come learn about paid artist opportunities!)

We especially want to thank ReelAbilities Toronto, Spectrum’s partner who made possible the screening of many of the films in the ‘Shifting the Lens’ film screening, and for their continued support and collaboration throughout the year!

And last but most, thank you to all creators for contributing your work and ideas!

MARCH 24TH

FREE ONLINE EVENT

7PM

COMMUNITY CHALLENGE FINALE

This Thursday, we will be looking back at our last 10 Community Challenge events, our viewers’ submissions, and playing some games on Jackbox! With a special appearance from Community Challenge guest artists Mike Da Bird and Speed Drawer Ben Lachapelle. This event will kick off Spectrum Fest 2022!

We’ve had so much fun with all of you during these Community Challenges, some of you have even been tuning in from the beginning, and we just want to thank you for submitting your work and for participating. This event will be a fun way to end it all and have one last hurrah together! 

Together, we edited, created characters, learned about fonts, did animation, and much more! Which event was your favorite? You’ve even gotten to submit your creations for a chance to win some unique prizes! 

Each event was streamed live from our studio and hosted by Sierra Lynne, the content creator and writer at Spectrum. He was joined by professional guest artists who are experts in their fields. This was a free online event series we’ve been hosting twice a month for 12-30 year old autistic creators. It was for both novice and experienced artists and we’ve accepted submissions from all who’ve participated. We couldn’t be happier to view some of them together!

Community Challenge host Sierra exclaims, “These challenges have been so much fun to host, and seeing the constant involvement of the community made it so worthwhile! I did get nervous about hosting sometimes, but with the help of Elodie I felt prepared for every event. It was also incredible how many artists at spectrum wanted to join in like Ben Lachapelle, Julie Myhr, Robert Girolami, and also Mike Da Bird! Even more incredible were the guest artists who we connected with, from Kat Singer, Stephanie Boghen, Erin Lindsay, Akash Jones and many more! We’ve been able to learn from so many experts and cover so many creative parts of filmmaking, music and writing! I was really glad to see that people were able to contribute to the challenges and how this impacted everyone in the community!”

HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WAS A PART OF THIS PROJECT AS WELL AS OUR FUNDER CANADIAN HERITAGE!

APRIL 9TH

J.A De sÈve Theatre

1PM - 2PM PWYC (suggested $5 per screening)

TINY SHORTS SCREENING

A collection of family friendly short films and animations showcasing the creativity and talent of our young filmmakers. The screening will be followed by a short Q/A with some of the creators.

2pm - 3pm PWYC (suggested $5 per screening)

SHIFTING THE LENS SCREENING

in partnership with ReelAbilities Toronto

A collection of films showcasing the power of experiencing the world on your own terms. ‘Shifting the lens’ is about promoting stories told by individuals with lived experience, contrasting many past current works of media that tell the story of neurodivergent and disabled individuals starting from the perspective of other characters. Narratives thar are driven by overcoming challenge is the norm. The protagonist telling their own experience may indeed share their challenges and how they choose to overcome, adapt and interpret the world. In this collection, the main focus is shifted and this allows for other elements and strengths to come into focus. We all deserve the time to experience and share the world on our own terms.

Curated by a neurodiverse panel, this screening will showcase work from Spectrum’s participants, mentors, and the extended community.

Check out some of this years films below

3pm - 4pm

SHIFTING THE LENS DISCUSSION

Following the screening, we will be hosting a short discussion about the films screened and hear from self advocates, parents and more.

SHAKESPEARE IN TOKYO

STRANGE

DIRECTED BY CAMERON CARR

2 Min | English | UK | | Narrative

Short | Open Captions | Audio Description

Strange is an autobiographical story told in a visual journal style; a glimpse into an autistic author’s life exploring friendship, trials and the use of unique coping strategies.

LES CHAUSSURES DE LOUIS

DIRECTED BY MARION PHILLIPE, KA YU LEUNG, JEAN-GÉRAURD BLANC, THÉO JAMO

5 MIN | French | Narrative

Empathy can feel in short supply in today’s world, but the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shoes is an important skill when it comes to understanding others. If it isn’t something you possess in your toolkit, you might need a little help and film (and storytelling in general) is a great aid in eliciting such reactions. Les Chaussures de Louis (Louis’ Shoes) is a short looking to do just that, as it tells its story through the eyes of a young autistic boy in the hope of raising awareness and resonating with viewers.

SPLITTING

DIRECTED BY ANTHONY CAMPOLI

3 MIN | English | Canada | Narrative

An ambiguous figure is sitting in a room reading the paper when somebody comes by to distract him from his peaceful time alone which sends him into a surreal internal conflict with himself. This film serves as an exploration into a perspective of ASD and OCD surrounding over-analysis and distractions from outer stimuli.

PARTIALLY COMPENSATED

JMAXX AND THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

MA VIE

DIRECTED BY JÉRÉMIE DUFOUR

4 MIN | French | Canada | Narrative

Voici un portrait de ma vie à travers mon diagnostique du spectre de l'autisme.