Autism and Cinema: An exploration of neurodiversity

This Barbican touring programme debates new ideas arising from the relationship between autism and cinema.

Bringing together a diverse selection of films, ranging from documentary to animation, and genre-twisting fiction to experimental filmmaking from within the autistic community, this programme asks how the language of cinema can be challenged and changed by autistic perspectives.

Typically, cinema has depicted characters with autism from the outside, looking in with fascination at a high-functioning or magical character who throws out of joint the ‘neurotypical’ lives of those around them.

A cinema reflective of autism and the experience of neurodiversity is rare. Yet it has much to offer our understanding of inner and outer life, ushering in new sensory and relational ways of being in the world.

All screenings will be Relaxed Screenings.

A Barbican programme, presented in collaboration with the Centre for Film and Ethics at Queen Mary University of London as part of a research project supported by Wellcome.