By Stephanie Ornelas
For years, independent filmmakers with disabilities have welcomed audiences into their personal narratives. They've worked to gain agency and bring authentic and artful representation to their communities. Film Festival attendees and audiences around the world have experienced the joy and struggles of disabled people thanks to artists like Reid Davenport, Ella Glendining, Jennifer Brea, and more.
Now, as part of our Doctober programming, we're highlighting some outstanding projects from bold filmmakers who are sharing their stories of living with a disability.
At the end of high school and throughout college, I really fit in. But there was a void in my confidence still - a sense that I didn't quite grasp how the world saw my disability and how it affected my life, said Reid Davenport (I Didn't See You There, 2022) during a TED Talk in 2017. My discovery of documentary filmmaking was not only a discovery of self-expression, but a way to intellectually place myself and my world. Today, Davenport is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and the recipient of the Directing Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Sundance Institute has a long history of championing nonfiction filmmakers with disabilities and their stories through the DFP and the Sundance Film Festival. Cinema is an incredibly powerful tool to drive change, and such projects are paving the way to a more inclusive and accessible film industry.
Take a moment and explore these seven influential documentaries brought to life with support from the Documentary Film Program, and read what some of our DFP staff members have to say about these remarkable films:
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By Stephanie Ornelas 
