Marvels of Media Festival

The Marvels of Media Festival kicks off with a festive opening night celebration and recognizes outstanding films created by autistic media-makers with screenings, panel discussions, and media workshops. Audience members will have a chance to learn from professional filmmakers on the spectrum through media workshops and panel discussions.

The free festival is part of the Museum’s year-round Marvels of Media initiative, which showcases, celebrates, and supports autistic media-makers of all ages and skill sets. The third annual Marvels of Media Festival expands the Museum’s accessibility efforts for autistic visitors through the creation of a sensory-friendly space in the Media Lab and sensory kits, which are available at the front desk.

Schedule of Events:

1:30 p.m: Magnificently Awesome Animations: Four Shorts

These four well-crafted animated shorts are perfect for kids of all ages, taking viewers into fantastical, vibrant worlds: a young princess seeks danger, a cat eagerly pursues his next meal, an Easter egg spends a fun day with a new babysitter, and a salamander struggles with making art. After the screening, there will be a panel discussion with filmmakers Alba Enid Garcia and Nicholas Amodio moderated by advocate, activist, and author Lauren Melissa Ellzey about the techniques used in these films, including stop-motion and digital animation, and how one’s autistic identity comes into play when creating.  

Free with RSVP.

Dangerously Ever After  

Dir. Alba Enid Garcia. 2023, 12 mins. In this stop-motion fairy tale, a young princess who loves the strange and the morbid meets a shy prince who comes upon her castle. Dangerously Ever After subverts gender roles in a story filled with wit and imagination. Autistic animator and puppeteer Julio Garay has crafted a unique world, characters, and creatures. New York premiere. Content warning: blood.

Cat Hunter

Dir. Nicholas Amodio. 2023, 2 mins. A cat is determined to make a meal out of an elusive creature known as the Cheesebeetle. Amodio’s colorful, comedic short hearkens back to early Warner Brothers cartoons in its use of timing and slapstick. World premiere

The Kazuki Toons: Babysitting an Egg

Dir. Kazuki Conover. 2023, 7 mins. This silly, well-crafted short shows the growing friendship between Kazuki, his creation Blendy, and the Easter Bunny’s adopted son, Edward the Easter Egg.

Twoot Newt  

Dir. Jackie Snyder. 2021, 4 mins. Newt struggles with jealousy over Salamander’s musical talent before coming to accept her unique toot. Twoot Newt’s soft, beautifully expressive animation elevates its memorable characters, magical world, and poignant message.

Location: Bartos Screening Room

2:30 p.m: Bending Conventions: Five Shorts

These five inventive films offer innovative experimental film techniques, and unique storylines. These films include reflections on identity, expressive animations which take us on new journeys and other captivating stories depicting outcasts. The program features films created by autistic directors and organizations like Exceptional Minds and Spectrum Laboratory, which are dedicated to uplifting neurodivergent media-makers. Followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers Daniel Oliver Lee, Madison Cahill and Samara Huckvale about the excitement of experimenting with cinematic forms and how the filmmakers approached the making of their films.  

Free with RSVP.

build me through the image / constrúyanme a través de la imagen

Dir. Paula Hung. 2023, 8 mins. In Spanish with English subtitles. This experimental documentary short explores the intricacies and complexities of being transmarginal Latine, multiracial, and queer. With narration describing the experiences of a father, mother, and daughter, and visuals mixing archival film footage, this film engages and deconstructs the cinematic form in dynamic, beautiful ways while analyzing media representation. New York premiere. Content warning: racism and strobe-like effects.

Fox Box Follies

Dir. Daniel Oliver Lee and Steph Prizhitomsky. 2023, 4 mins. In this surrealistic, folkloric short, a fox tries to sneak his way into a boxing ring disguised as a chicken. Content warning: violence and death.

Mean Mr. Mustache

Dir. Madison Cahill. 2021, 4 mins. This riveting animated music video for the band PENIX features a car chase and lots of explosions.  Content warning: violence, substance use, and blood.

The Benchwarm-Nerds!

Dir. Jason Weissbrod. 2023, 15 mins. With Domonique Brown, Caroline Corry, Micah Stumbaugh. With music, puppetry and comedy, this delightful, quirky short follows three outcasts who meet and combine their unique talents to create the most epic sci-fi saga of all time. The Benchwarm-Nerds! was created by Spectrum Laboratory, an organization dedicated to uplifting neurodivergent media-makers. Content warning: contains bullying.

Ocean’s 24/7

Dir. Samara Huckvale. 2024, 3 mins. This stoner’s revenge comedy parodies heist films and the French New Wave. It centers on two twenty-something amateurs deciding to run a heist with 24 people in seven days on a local grocery store chain, Ocean’s, after a store employee publicly embarrasses them for smelling like weed. Ocean’s 24/7 features Black, autistic artists on-screen and behind the screen. World premiere. Content warning: substance use.

Tree’s Blood

Dir. Zion Ballard Balewa, Sarah Breiche, Nathan Dana, Miles Hawkins, Hilaria Litton, Sophia Oh, Jorge Ramirez, Christopher Rubinstein, Kayla Nataly Verdugo, Eden Wolfenson, Abigail Zamora of Reel Start. 2024, 8 mins. This skillfully constructed animation focuses on how a social media influencer realizes the importance of taking care of the environment when her search for fame quite literally puts her world at stake. This short was animated by Exceptional Minds, an academy and studio dedicated to preparing artists on the autism spectrum for careers in animation and the digital arts. The autistic media-makers who worked on this short include Kate “Kae” McSpadden, Becca David, Liam Brosnan, Christian Keithley, Sam Hardin, Craig Hills, Andrew Turney, Dylan Carbonell, C. Idd, Dean Julien, Jack Meigs, Dustin Noriyuki, Ludwig Tan, Michael Shiu, Stephen Storti, Kyle Grossart, Aaron Trost, Autumn Schneider, Shad Wilde and David Miles. Content warning: blood and violence.

Location: Bartos Screening Room

4:00 p.m: Collage Animation Workshop

As part of Museum of the Moving Image’s Marvels of Media Festival and co-presented by Strokes of Genius, autistic visitors and media-makers are welcome to join us for the Collage Animation Workshop. Instructed by artist David Karasow, this two-hour media workshop focuses on creating collage art with paper, which is then animated to create a stop-motion animation short (between 10 and 20 seconds). Recommended for ages 15 and up.

Free with RSVP.

Location: Digital Learning Suite