Photograph courtesy Cindependent
Earlier this year, multi-genre Cindependent Film Festival and the Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival, organized by Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled (LADD), unexpectedly announced their merger. The two landmark Cincinnati film festivals then rebranded under one unified identity: the Cincinnati Film Festival Presented with LADD.
So what does such a merger mean for the future of both organizations? For one thing, sustainability. According to Cindependent founder and Executive Director Allyson West, the partnership combines strengths. LADD contributes its organizational infrastructure, providing about 30 percent of the revenue needed to produce the annual film festival. Cindependent’s reputation as one of the region’s leading identities in independent film, meanwhile, draws submissions and audiences from around the world, presenting more opportunities for exhibition, filmmaker development, and audience building.
Such a blend of resources, says West, furthers Cindependent’s mission of creating a home for independent filmmaking—with an increased awareness for and representation of disability after the merger. The new festival is September 16–20 and will show 130 screenplays, features, and short films. The event kicks off with a grand reopening night at the Mariemont Theatre, which Cindependent has been renovating for nearly seven months. Attendees can expect more accessibility resources—expanded captioning and audio descriptions, an accessible red carpet entrance into Memorial Hall, ASL interpretation for key events, sensory-friendly programming, and accessibility tools for guests—as well as more films and stories by and about people with disabilities.
Take, for example, Take Me Home, one of the opening night films at the Mariemont. The debut film of award-winning filmmaker Liz Sargent premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and earned her the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Sargent, who frequently explores themes of adoption, disability, and family in her work, cast her real-life sister as the main character in the drama, which explores the relationship between a woman with a cognitive disability and her aging mother, exploring themes of independence, belonging, and the “many ways we care for one another.”
“We are excited to be bringing accessibility to the forefront through our partnership with LADD,” says Jonny Shenk, festival curation and exhibitions director. He also highlights feature documentary Through My Board, showing at 1 p.m. on Saturday, which follows acclaimed deaf skateboarder Paul Johnson, who must navigate the challenges of growing up in a predominantly hearing community at world-famous Burnside Skatepark in Portland. Director Dan Eason is a Cincinnati native now based in Portland, and filmed the documentary there over seven years. It was released in April this year, making his directorial debut.
Photograph courtesy Cindependent
Day one of the festival opens with a disability casting call at the Ensemble Theatre in Over-the-Rhine, conducted by Casting Society member D. Lynn Meyers, who has put thousands of Cincinnatians in notable films and on big screens across the country, from The Bikeriders to The Old Man and the Gun and Miles Ahead. Performers will reserve five- to 10-minute audition slots and will prepare three minutes of material.
According to a Ruderman Foundation study, nearly 80 percent of characters with disabilities on scripted TV series are played by non-disabled actors, and overall representation remains disproportionately low at just 3.9 percent, despite that almost 30 percent of the country’s population at large identifies as being disabled.
In collaboration with the Casting Society, LADD has hosted the disabled casting call with Meyers in years past in hopes to reverse this trend, initially as part of the OTR International Film Festival. “It’s essential that film and stage work represent the world we live in and include all people of this world,” says Meyers in a press release. “Modern film sets and theater stages have become much more accessible to open opportunities.”
And in addition to film screenings in the main theater, the festival will include a number of interactive and educational opportunities for film professionals and hobbyists, including live screenplay readings, conversations with filmmakers, masterclasses of advanced techniques and industry insights, and more.
Photograph courtesy Cindependent
Following the festival, visitors can continue to get their fix of Cindependent at the Mariemont Theatre. The organization will now operate out of the historic cinema, which will continue its operations as a community theater, showing both big-name films and titles by local and independent filmmakers. In the future, the organization also expects to host filmmaker conversations, youth programs, workshops, and other special events in the space.
“Cindependent has always existed to turn strangers into friends,” says West. “Every screening, conversation, and late-night discussion after film is an opportunity for someone to find their people. This year, it feels like that community is about to get a whole lot bigger, which is incredibly exciting.”
