Themester

As part of Themester’s focus on Identity and Identification, students and community will have the opportunity to sample films from a San Francisco film festival devoted to celebrating the work of disabled filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors. With the Superfest Showcase, Themester and the IU Department of History will partner to screen 12 films from the Superfest Disability Film Festival on Sept. 19 at Ballantine Hall 013. 

 The films have all been previously shown at the Superfest Disability Film Festival, hosted by the Paul K. Longmore Institute at San Francisco State University. Superfest films vary from award-winning comedies to dramas, documentaries, mockumentaries, and more.

All films are open captioned. Organizers are working to schedule an ASL intepreter for the event's introductory remarks and post-screening discussion.

"The films are by turns hilarious, heart-rending, and thought provoking. The short format whisks audiences through a range of emotional responses," Irvin said. "In this way, Superfest makes for wonderful entertainment, but it also has a lot to teach us about lived experiences of disability." 

Works presented this year include Coda, a 2019 short film that explores a young woman’s identity as a dancer and hearing child in a deaf family. The acronym CODA refers to “child of deaf adults,” and this film shares its title with a 2021 Oscar-winning feature CODA, which explores a similar subject matter. Other films include Sparkles, which discusses a woman with Down syndrome who leaves her past behind, and Sweet Solace, which features the world of music between a musician and two blind passersby.  

“I am thrilled to bring Superfest to Indiana University,” Irvin said, “and I am equally eager to discover how the films explore the central themes of Themester 2022: Identity and Identification.” 

IU Themester’s Superfest Showcase is free and open to the public. More information, including optional registration, is available on Themester’s News + Events website.

Plan your visit

Date and time: Monday, Sept. 19 at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Ballantine 013
Parking and accessibility:

• Downtown IU lots (free parking): These downtown-adjacent lots are free to anyone on weekday evenings after 5 p.m. and over the weekend.

Lot #404: Von Lee
Lot #412: corner of Fourth and Dunn streets
Lot #402: corner of Sixth and Dunn streets

• Accessible entrances: There are accessible entrances on the north and south sides of Ballantine Hall.

• Accessible parking: The nearest accessible parking is at Memorial Hall, Owen Hall, and Wylie Hall. The IMU parking lot is another option, but its distance on the campus map is misleading due to geographical features that limit accessibility on the side nearest Ballantine Hall.
  
  Some ADA parking is limited to those with IU permits. Please see the list of campus  lots with accessible parking spaces  for more information.

• Captioning and ASL interpretation: All films are open captioned. An ASL interpreter is scheduled to be in attendance for the event's introductory remarks and post-screening discussion.

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Updates: This article has been updated to add that an ASL interpreter has been scheduled.