A five-day film festival dedicated entirely to the work and stories of the autistic community is coming to Carytown next week, and it’s the first time the event has touched down in Virginia.
The Marvels of Media Festival, now in its fifth year, runs April 1 through 5 at the Byrd Theatre. Organized in partnership with the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, the festival brings a curated lineup of features, shorts, and animation programs that span genres from horror to comedy to cyberpunk. The connecting thread is that every film is created by, for, or about autistic people.
Richmond is one of eight cities nationwide selected for this year’s festival expansion, which was previously held at MoMI. The Byrd Theatre Foundation is serving as a premier national partner for the rollout.
A lineup built to challenge assumptions
The festival’s narrative centerpiece is Flying Lessons, a drama directed by Sarah Waldron about an autistic teenager named Beatrice who dreams of learning to fly while adjusting to life with her estranged sister. It screens on Thursday, April 2, at 7 p.m…