Relaxed screening

Relaxed screening: Seeing The Unseen

Að sjá hið ósýnilega

This bold documentary explores the spirited lives of 17 Icelandic women with autism.

Tuesday 28 September 18:00 NFT3

Tickets will be available to book either online, by calling (020 7928 3232) or by emailing the Box Office: box.office@bfi.org.uk

More information on relaxed screenings

Iceland 2019
Dir Kristján Kristjánsson, Bjarney Lúðvíksdóttir
82min
Format tbc
Some EST

The Kristy Forbes poem ‘We Are Proud Autistic Women’ is vigorously performed in the film’s opening by Kristín Vilhjálmsdóttir, one especially proud autistic woman. An unashamed celebration of the joys of autism and womanhood, the documentary also touches on darker themes such as domestic abuse and exploitation – how these women are, as one beautifully puts it, both ‘stable and instable’.

This screening is presented in collaboration with Citizen Autistic: The London Autism Film Club, a welcoming neuro-diverse space bringing together like-minded individuals through a shared love of cinema.

Relaxed screenings are presented each month for those in the neuro-diverse community and their assistants and carers. More detailed information can be found at bfi.org.uk/relaxed.

Tickets £3.

This is the third of three relaxed screenings presented in response to The Reason I Jump, programmed by independent curator, Benjamin Brown.

“Really, our vision of the world can be incredible, just incredible …”
- Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump

Whether neuro-diverse or neurotypical, as human beings we are all born with our own unique ways of perceiving the world. However, for many on the autism spectrum, the problem comes when trying to impress that unique perspective onto others through words and gestures. Like a detuned radio, the signal is blocked, coming through only as hissing static.

Channelling several themes explored so effectively by The Reason I Jump, the season expresses the key role of the senses in our everyday lives and the transcendent power of nature to provide consolation to the inconsolable. It also conveys the vital importance of giving autistic people a say in how we are treated, and to extend us our rightful seat at society’s table.

As Naoki so poetically puts it, “if, by our being here, we could help the people of the world remember what truly matters for the earth, that would give us a quiet pleasure”.

BFI Southbank has been awarded the National Autistic Society's Autism Friendly Award.