Programme details announced for the inaugural We Crip Film Festival 2025

The inaugural We Crip Film Festival will take place at BFI Southbank from 26 to 27 July, marking Disability Pride Month with a weekend celebration of disabled filmmaking and joy programmed by Charlie Little and Tara Brown, with thanks to Oska Bright.

With a collection of films, talks and industry workshops curated by disabled programmers, the We Crip Film Festival – formerly known as Busting the Bias – advocates for authentic representation on both sides of the camera. Marking 30 years since the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the programme is an expression of disabled rage and joy, a reclamation of strength, creativity and ingenuity as the disabled film community survives and thrives.

The festival is programmed in close consultation with We Crip Film, the BFI’s intersectional disability advocacy group which is now in its seventh year and chaired by Kyla Harris (We Might Regret This). The group tasks the BFI to address key challenges facing disabled talent, while providing guidance on the best and most effective way to engage and support the disability community. The We Crip Film Festival represents the group’s ethos, showcasing stories embodying ‘nothing about us without us’ while reflecting on the current landscape of the disabled experience and access within the screen industries in 2025.

All film screenings will be relaxed and access provisions such as descriptive subtitles, audio description, BSL/English interpretation, live captions, quiet spaces and more will be provided.

Festival programmers and members of the We Crip Film advocacy group, Charlie Little and Tara Brown commented:
“We are thrilled to be bringing an eclectic and empowering collection of crip filmmaking to the big screen during Disability Pride Month. Within the last few months, there have been attacks on disabled people’s rights from all fronts. We feel that although this festival is about the celebration of disabled filmmaking, we must acknowledge and recognise the persistent barriers and stigmatisation that disabled people face in day-to-day life. We want to express our solidarity and support to the disability community. Our hope for this festival is to bring disabled audiences and creatives together to celebrate crip joy and disabled representation in the film industry, while recognising our collective rage at systemic ableism. Please join us for a weekend of crip empowerment, creativity, and storytelling.”

The festival kicks off on 26 July with the UK festival premiere of Deaf President Now! (Nyle DiMarco, David Guggenheim, 2025), including a pre-recorded intro from the directors, Nyle DiMarco and David Guggenheim. Interwoven with current-day interviews and archival footage, this rousing documentary highlights a tipping point in Deaf representation and civil rights as we follow the revolutionary 1988 student protests at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Fuelled by a combination of rage, unique protest tactics and determination, the film demonstrates the potential and power of collective action.

Events on 27 July will include It’s Not You, It’s Ableism, a short film programme that is a vibrant exploration of the ways in which disabled people constantly adapt and resist against ableism, weaving through documentary, animation, and narrative genres while showcasing a spectrum of disabled stories, including:

• At See (Serena Dykman, 2024), a documentary that follows over fifty guide dogs and their ‘pawtners’ as they board the ‘All Paws on Deck’ cruise to the Dominican Republic;
• Better (Zoe Hunter, 2022), in which Ruth is forced to confront her younger sister’s disabled identity when she finds herself living on her own terms by the seaside;
• Living with It (Holly Summerson, 2023), in which perfectionist Lee must adapt to the imperfect reality of living with an illness – brought to life as a chaotic supernatural flatmate Bug;
• Coming Out Autistic (Steven Fraser, 2023), a short animated documentary exploring the experience of telling the world you’re autistic when you also identify as LGBTQIA+; and
• 6Sense (Chris Kets, Amílcar Patel, 2023), a transformative hybrid documentary heavy on beats which sees groundbreaking Gqom music producer Mxshi Mo’s journey from South Africa to international acclaim.

The weekend is rounded off with Oska Bright Film Festival: Joyful Intersections, a collection of films created by and featuring women with learning disabilities and autism, offering powerful, authentic representations of their unique experiences and perspectives, and the festival’s closing night offering An Audience with Kyla Harris: Cripping the Screen Industries. BAFTA Breakthrough winner Kyla Harris, the award-winning writer, actor and producer behind the acclaimed BBC series We Might Regret This, and chair of the BFI’s advisory group We Crip Film, will discuss her richly successful career and life with festival programmer Tara Brown, as well as what it truly means to reclaim the word ‘crip’ and create meaningful change in the screen industries for disabled people.