Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
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Following the theatrical release and a BAFTA nomination for Ella Glendining’s feature documentary Is There Anybody Out There?, we were pleased to present a special roundtable event celebrating disabled filmmaking and disability joy, while confronting the film industry’s barriers and ableism.
Hosted by film and culture writer Lillian Crawford, the roundtable featured a conversation between filmmakers Ella Glendining, Jessi Gutch, Justin Edgar and Ted Evans, who discussed their individual experiences as disabled and deaf people forging a career in the film industry, the barriers that still persist, and what needs to happen next.
This event was BSL interpreted. Please note that is a live unscripted BSL/English interpretation, and so there may be some mistakes.
This was event was delivered in partnership with Conic and 104films. It was part of the outreach and impact activity for the release of Is There Anybody Out There? which was supported by BFI, Doc Society, Screen Scotland and The National Lottery.
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Justin Edgar’s last two films We are the Freaks and The Marker were streamed on Netflix. He began his career directing documentaries for Channel 4 and Doctors for the BBC and directed his first feature film Large for Film4 aged just 26. His second feature film Special People premiered at the 2007 TriBeCa Film Festival and went on to win a Royal Television Society diversity award. His company 104 films worked on the BAFTA-nominated Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and co-produced feature documentary Notes on Blindness which was nominated for three BAFTAs including Best British Film.
Ted Evans is a writer-director based in London. Starting his career at a small production company, Ted progressed from researcher to AP/Director at the BBC and in 2012 he co-wrote and co-directed two films for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Ted received international and critical acclaim for his award-winning shorts, The End and Retreat, which is currently being developed into a feature. In 2018 Ted was selected as part of Creative England's CE50 and his most recent short drama To Know Him was nominated for Best Short Film at BIFA (2018). Ted has several original, high-concept projects in development and will direct Retreat in 2024. Other recent projects include One Look (Reprise) a music video with Sony Classical, the BBC1 documentary Signs for Change, featuring Rose Ayling-Ellis and Turn Up The Bass a Netflix short documentary.
Ella Glendining is a BAFTA-nominated Writer/Director. Is There Anybody Out There? premiered at Sundance 2023, and has won awards including the Silver Horn for the director of a film on social issues at Krakow Film Festival 2023, the prestigious FIPRESCI International Film Critics Prize, and the Bring the Change award at Biografilm Festival 2023. In 2024 Ella was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. Ella also secured two 2023 BIFA nominations, Best Debut Director – Documentary Feature, and The Raindance Maverick Award. Ella was one of three recipients of the BFI and Chanel Filmmaker awards 2023, celebrating ‘creative audacity’, and was named a BAFTA Breakthrough 2023. Ella is currently writing a historical drama feature she will also direct for the BFI, called Curiosities of Fools.
Jessi Gutch is a BIFA nominated writer, award winning director and BAFTA Elevate/BFI Insight producer. Living with incurable ovarian cancer, she proudly identifies as a disabled filmmaker and tells stories that sit between fact and fiction, between dream and reality. Her slate of short films have screened at international festivals such as London Film Festival, BFI Flare, British Shorts Berlin, and Edinburgh, with Until The Tide Creeps In taking home both Best Documentary and Best of Festival at Aesthetica 2022, and Blind as a Beat winning Best Experimental Film at the Women Over 50 Film Festival 2022 and a Semi Finalist prize at Reel Abilities Film Festival in New York. Jessi is currently in post-production on her debut documentary feature Border Town and in development on her debut narrative feature My Cells are Trying to Kill Me.
#CinemaOfIdeas
Join our mailing list: bit.ly/3E7oRsU 📧
See previous events on the Cinema of Ideas: bit.ly/3GRWgcI 📽️
Subscribe to ICO YouTube: bit.ly/3rPktfi 💻
Following the theatrical release and a BAFTA nomination for Ella Glendining’s feature documentary Is There Anybody Out There?, we were pleased to present a special roundtable event celebrating disabled filmmaking and disability joy, while confronting the film industry’s barriers and ableism.
Hosted by film and culture writer Lillian Crawford, the roundtable featured a conversation between filmmakers Ella Glendining, Jessi Gutch, Justin Edgar and Ted Evans, who discussed their individual experiences as disabled and deaf people forging a career in the film industry, the barriers that still persist, and what needs to happen next.
This event was BSL interpreted. Please note that is a live unscripted BSL/English interpretation, and so there may be some mistakes.
This was event was delivered in partnership with Conic and 104films. It was part of the outreach and impact activity for the release of Is There Anybody Out There? which was supported by BFI, Doc Society, Screen Scotland and The National Lottery.
--------------------
Justin Edgar’s last two films We are the Freaks and The Marker were streamed on Netflix. He began his career directing documentaries for Channel 4 and Doctors for the BBC and directed his first feature film Large for Film4 aged just 26. His second feature film Special People premiered at the 2007 TriBeCa Film Festival and went on to win a Royal Television Society diversity award. His company 104 films worked on the BAFTA-nominated Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and co-produced feature documentary Notes on Blindness which was nominated for three BAFTAs including Best British Film.
Ted Evans is a writer-director based in London. Starting his career at a small production company, Ted progressed from researcher to AP/Director at the BBC and in 2012 he co-wrote and co-directed two films for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Ted received international and critical acclaim for his award-winning shorts, The End and Retreat, which is currently being developed into a feature. In 2018 Ted was selected as part of Creative England's CE50 and his most recent short drama To Know Him was nominated for Best Short Film at BIFA (2018). Ted has several original, high-concept projects in development and will direct Retreat in 2024. Other recent projects include One Look (Reprise) a music video with Sony Classical, the BBC1 documentary Signs for Change, featuring Rose Ayling-Ellis and Turn Up The Bass a Netflix short documentary.
Ella Glendining is a BAFTA-nominated Writer/Director. Is There Anybody Out There? premiered at Sundance 2023, and has won awards including the Silver Horn for the director of a film on social issues at Krakow Film Festival 2023, the prestigious FIPRESCI International Film Critics Prize, and the Bring the Change award at Biografilm Festival 2023. In 2024 Ella was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. Ella also secured two 2023 BIFA nominations, Best Debut Director – Documentary Feature, and The Raindance Maverick Award. Ella was one of three recipients of the BFI and Chanel Filmmaker awards 2023, celebrating ‘creative audacity’, and was named a BAFTA Breakthrough 2023. Ella is currently writing a historical drama feature she will also direct for the BFI, called Curiosities of Fools.
Jessi Gutch is a BIFA nominated writer, award winning director and BAFTA Elevate/BFI Insight producer. Living with incurable ovarian cancer, she proudly identifies as a disabled filmmaker and tells stories that sit between fact and fiction, between dream and reality. Her slate of short films have screened at international festivals such as London Film Festival, BFI Flare, British Shorts Berlin, and Edinburgh, with Until The Tide Creeps In taking home both Best Documentary and Best of Festival at Aesthetica 2022, and Blind as a Beat winning Best Experimental Film at the Women Over 50 Film Festival 2022 and a Semi Finalist prize at Reel Abilities Film Festival in New York. Jessi is currently in post-production on her debut documentary feature Border Town and in development on her debut narrative feature My Cells are Trying to Kill Me.
#CinemaOfIdeas
