Explore our Full Schedule at Access: Horror on Eventive.

Panel F: Speculative Stories

to Change the World 

Good sci-fi represents a potential and plausible view of the future, so how do creatives bring these worlds to life? In genres where anything is possible, what can we do to make disability an integral part of the story?  Moderated by Colin Buckingham.

  • Colin Buckingham is a Writer, Actor, and Producer based in Brooklyn, NY. His goal as a storyteller is to make projects that are intersectional and give a platform for historically excluded, disenfranchised and marginalized persons. Originally from Washington, DC, he got his start in writing through choreographing action and stunt coordinating on multiple plays, indie films and webseries. His first short film he wrote, choreographed, produced and acted in recently released. He was a disability and dwarfism consultant for Tomorrow’s Today and another project TBA. As a writer he is mostly self taught, but has taken occasional playwriting and screenwriting courses. He recently started his own production company, “Chromatic Lens”.

  • Ariel Baska is a multiply Disabled queer horror and documentary filmmaker who believes in advocacy and accessibility for marginalized communities. She wrote and directed the horror short, Our First Priority, about medical gaslighting, which won the BAFTA-qualifying Advocacy Award from Superfest Disability Film Festival. As a producer, she works in both narrative and documentary, with numerous projects on the festival circuit. She was a speaker at SXSW in 2022 and 2023, and is a fellow of the PAM CUT Sustainability Lab, endowed by the NEA for interdisciplinary artists, and also a fellow of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab.
    She is a podcaster, non-profit owner, and internationally-published writer who curates creative spaces for disabled filmmakers. Her work can be seen on Ride the Omnibus, her podcast and non-profit parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice.

  • Cashmere Jasmine is an Afro-Caribbean Director with southern roots based in LA. She creates genre-bending media reimagine depictions of intersectional disability-inclusive stories. In 2021, Cashmere was a part of Amy Aniobi’s TRIBE, the Black Magic Collective’s All Access Fellowship, and RespectAbility’s Summer Entertainment Lab. She also received the Sundance Uprise grant for her short film, Oreo, that became a 2022 Slamdance festival selection. Her surrealist feature Bitter, about an irresponsible dialysis patient, earned her a spot in the Sundance Accessible Futures Intensive to workshop her feature. She is a director for the 2nd season of Disney’s Launchpad short film that will air on Disney+.

  • Ariel Baska is a multiply Disabled queer horror and documentary filmmaker who believes in advocacy and accessibility for marginalized communities. She wrote and directed the horror short, Our First Priority, about medical gaslighting, which won the BAFTA-qualifying Advocacy Award from Superfest Disability Film Festival. As a producer, she works in both narrative and documentary, with numerous projects on the festival circuit. She was a speaker at SXSW in 2022 and 2023, and is a fellow of the PAM CUT Sustainability Lab, endowed by the NEA for interdisciplinary artists, and also a fellow of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab.
    She is a podcaster, non-profit owner, and internationally-published writer who curates creative spaces for disabled filmmakers. Her work can be seen on Ride the Omnibus, her podcast and non-profit parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice.

  • Jerry J. Sampson is a screenwriter whose focus is strongly on the Horror and Psychological Thriller genre. Her feature screenplays have been award winners, finalists, and Official Selections at various film festivals including FilmQuest, Beverly Hills Film Festival, HorrorHaus, HorrorOrigins, and Austin Film Festival. Jerry recently wrapped filming of her short supernatural horror script The Safety Games, directed by Jeremiah Kipp (Slapface), and is developing the feature screenplay for the proof-of-concept short. She is currently in pre-production on her directorial short film debut, In Dreams, a surreal meditation on grief.

Panel G: Institutions & Advocacy 

What does advocacy based on media representation look like? How do we press for change in spaces that don't necessarily hold our best interests at heart? Moderated by Ariel Baska.

  • Ariel Baska is a multiply Disabled queer horror and documentary filmmaker who believes in advocacy and accessibility for marginalized communities. She wrote and directed the horror short, Our First Priority, about medical gaslighting, which won the BAFTA-qualifying Advocacy Award from Superfest Disability Film Festival. As a producer, she works in both narrative and documentary, with numerous projects on the festival circuit. She was a speaker at SXSW in 2022 and 2023, and is a fellow of the PAM CUT Sustainability Lab, endowed by the NEA for interdisciplinary artists, and also a fellow of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab.
    She is a podcaster, non-profit owner, and internationally-published writer who curates creative spaces for disabled filmmakers. Her work can be seen on Ride the Omnibus, her podcast and non-profit parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice.

  • Day Al-Mohamed is an author, filmmaker, and disability policy executive. Her work includes the Young Adult novels, “Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn,” and “The Labyrinth’s Archivist.” She is a host on Idobi Radio’s Geek Girl Riot with an audience of more than 80,000 listeners, and her most recent documentary is about little known regiments of disabled soldiers in the Civil War, “The Invalid Corps”.

    She is a founding member of FWD-Doc (Documentary Filmmakers with Disabilities), an active member of Women in Film and Video and a graduate of the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop. However, she is most proud of being invited to teach a workshop on storytelling at the White House in February 2016.

    Day is a disability policy executive with more than fifteen years of experience. She is a former Senior Policy Advisor with the Federal government. Day presents often on the representation of disability in media, most recently at the American Bar Association, SXSW, and New York ComiCon. A proud member of Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 24-01, she lives in Washington DC with her wife, N.R. Brown.

  • Ariel Baska is a multiply Disabled queer horror and documentary filmmaker who believes in advocacy and accessibility for marginalized communities. She wrote and directed the horror short, Our First Priority, about medical gaslighting, which won the BAFTA-qualifying Advocacy Award from Superfest Disability Film Festival. As a producer, she works in both narrative and documentary, with numerous projects on the festival circuit. She was a speaker at SXSW in 2022 and 2023, and is a fellow of the PAM CUT Sustainability Lab, endowed by the NEA for interdisciplinary artists, and also a fellow of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab.
    She is a podcaster, non-profit owner, and internationally-published writer who curates creative spaces for disabled filmmakers. Her work can be seen on Ride the Omnibus, her podcast and non-profit parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice.

  • Kimberley Spire-Oh is a documentary filmmaker and activist whose work centers on fighting discrimination against people with disabilities—especially children—and securing resources to meet their needs. Her films tell the stories of those with disabilities and their families in order to help the public see them as members of the general community instead of misunderstood “others”. Kimberley’s goal is to catalyze change in public policy affecting individuals with disabilities by educating viewers on critical and timely issues and suggesting solutions that work for all stakeholders.

    Inspired by her battles to help her twice-exceptional son receive an appropriate education, Kimberley opened a special education law practice through which she has represented hundreds of students across Florida over the past 13 years.

    Kimberley has also worked as a writer, legal editor, and Congressional aide. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards and government advisory committees relating to disability and educational equity—often in leadership roles. All of these experiences inform her film work.

Panel H: COVID on Film &

COVID In Communities

What changes has COVID wrought to the content of horror films and how they process the trauma of the last few years? How has the pandemic shaped the horror viewing experience?  Moderated by Juliet Romeo.

  • Juliet Romeo is an award-winning filmmaker who has written and directed many short films across multiple film genres. Her most recent work includes the horror movie Cooptation, about two best friends trying to escape society's toxic beauty standards. The film was a top ten finalist in the 2021 Women of Color 48 Hour Film Challenge, Los Angeles screening, and streamed on the Shutter platform. Juliet's unique vision as a filmmaker has earned her a number of awards and accolades. Her work is known for its blend of artistic expression, societal commentary, and compelling narrative. Juliet is also the Founder of Slamdance Film Festival's Unstoppable program, which advocates for disability inclusion, diverse representation in cinema, and greater recognition of disabled filmmakers. Juliet lives in Miami and is a Communications Apprentice for RespectAbility's Spring 2023 National Leadership program. She is currently working on a feature-length horror film that promises to be even more suspenseful and thrilling than Cooptation.

  • Danielle is an educator and disability advocate specializing in chronic illness and public policy. She lives with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and an autoimmune liver disease called Primary Biliary Cholangitis. She is semi-ambulatory and enjoys expressing herself through colorful and unique adaptive equipment. She has represented the patient voice for the American College of Rheumatology, the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, and the US Food and Drug Administration. She has a fondness for podcasting and has made guest appearances on both the Ride the Omnibus Podcast and the AiArthritis Voices 360 Talkshow. She is a co-host on Bill & Claire’s Excellent Adventures - a film education podcast she produces with her husband and oldest daughter. She is especially passionate about increasing accessibility and inclusion in movie theaters and film festivals. She currently lives in West Virginia with her husband and four children.

  • David Lawson moved to LA in 2006 and worked as a PA in music videos. After climbing the ladder, he made the leap to features with the 2012 film RESOLUTION.

    In 2017, after working as Head of Production for Snowfort Pictures, he with collaborators Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, formed RUSTIC FILMS. His features include SOMETHING IN THE DIRT, SYNCHRONIC, THE ENDLESS, SHE DIES TOMORROW, and others.

    He guest lectures at USC Film School, Florida State University, and AFI’s Master programs. He is an advisor for Sundance’s Collab Producing Class as well as a mentor for the Startwith8 program.

  • Andy has worked for nearly fifteen years as a horror filmmaker and composer for film and theater. HIs newest film THE HARBINGER was released theatrically and streaming by XYZ Films after playing to acclaim at festivals like Fantasia, Sitges, FrightFest, and many more. It follows the success of 2018’s THE WITCH IN THE WINDOW, also a festival darling and eventually picked up as a Shudder “Original”. Previous films includes WE GO ON (writer/co-director) and YELLOWBRICKROAD (co-writer/co-director), both released around the world, garnering cult status with fans along the way. As a musical theater artist, Andy wrote the songs and co-adapted "Me...Jane: The Dreams & Adventures of Young Jane Goodall” (based on Patrick McDonnell’s Caldecott-winning children’s book) for the Kennedy Center Family Theater where it premiered in 2018 and went on to a national tour. In 2014 he composed for another Kennedy Center production, “The Gift of Nothing”, featuring characters from the MUTTS comic strip.

Panel I: Restructuring

Film Production

How do we reframe equity and accessibility as the answer to toxic set culture practices that have been common in the horror film industry?  Moderated by Ariel Baska.

  • Ariel Baska is a multiply Disabled queer horror and documentary filmmaker who believes in advocacy and accessibility for marginalized communities. She wrote and directed the horror short, Our First Priority, about medical gaslighting, which won the BAFTA-qualifying Advocacy Award from Superfest Disability Film Festival. As a producer, she works in both narrative and documentary, with numerous projects on the festival circuit. She was a speaker at SXSW in 2022 and 2023, and is a fellow of the PAM CUT Sustainability Lab, endowed by the NEA for interdisciplinary artists, and also a fellow of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab.

    She is a podcaster, non-profit owner, and internationally-published writer who curates creative spaces for disabled filmmakers. Her work can be seen on Ride the Omnibus, her podcast and non-profit parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice.

  • Jeffrey Chance is a filmmaker, colorist and video artist. Though specializing as a Post Production Editor and Colorist, Chance frequently finds himself on sets as both Camera Operator, Cinematographer and the occasional Director.

    Chance currently works as a Colorist at Irving Harvey in Manhattan, NYC.

    He is extremely addicted to seltzer, and can frequently be found downing a gallon of San Pellegrino.

  • Jill "Sixx" Gevargizian is a director, producer, writer, and hairstylist from Kansas City, Missouri. In 2012, she decided to bring independent genre films to her hometown by creating a monthly showcase called Slaughter Movie House. She founded Sixx Tape productions in 2014 with her directorial debut, CALL GIRL. Since then, she has written, produced and helmed numerous short films - most notably THE STYLIST in 2016. The film screened at genre festivals across the globe and won 20 awards. That short was also the inspiration for her debut feature of the same title released by Arrow Video in 2021. 2023 is already shaping up to be a busy year for Gevargizian. She wrapped production on her second directorial feature film this March and has a film she produced, titled BLACK MOLD, made its world premiere at Panic Film Fest in April of 2023.

  • Camila works as a production sound mixer and boom operator based out of Baltimore, MD, USA. She was born and raised in Ilhéus, Brazil. Camila’s work has appeared on Netflix, Amazon, National Geographic, NFL Films, amongst others. She’s also worked on commercials for Nike, Google, Ford, Gatorade, and independent projects in the US and Brazil. Camila is also a member of the ABC, the Brazilian Association of Cinematography as a sound mixer. In her free time she likes to spend time with Jordan, her partner, and their dog, Sunny.

  • Bio Coming

Panel J: Horror and the

Art of Writing

How can we change the future with our words, particularly in an age where our writing is devalued?  Moderated by Mo Moshaty.

  • A queer, disabled and Wiradjuri editor and author at Hear Us Scream. Working towards the promotion and release of voices in horror from marginalised fringes. In 2023, launched Hear Us Scream Press with the vision of creating an inclusive celebrating printing press. Spends most days reading, writing and feeding treats to her cat, Pickles.

  • Colin Buckingham is a Writer, Actor, and Producer based in Brooklyn, NY. His goal as a storyteller is to make projects that are intersectional and give a platform for historically excluded, disenfranchised and marginalized persons. Originally from Washington, DC, he got his start in writing through choreographing action and stunt coordinating on multiple plays, indie films and webseries. His first short film he wrote, choreographed, produced and acted in recently released. He was a disability and dwarfism consultant for Tomorrow’s Today and another project TBA. As a writer he is mostly self taught, but has taken occasional playwriting and screenwriting courses. He recently started his own production company, “Chromatic Lens”.

  • Mo Moshaty is a horror writer, lecturer and producer. Flexing her horror acumen, coupled with her additional vocation as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist, Mo has lectured with Prairie View A&M in Texas as a keynote speaker for Nightmares of Monkeypaw: A Jordan Peele Symposium, with Horror Studies BAFSS Sig for No Return: A Yellowjackets Symposium, with Centre for the History of the Gothic at the University of Sheffield and the University of California for The Whole Damn Swarm: Celebrating 30 Years of Candyman and Final Girls Berlin Film Festival's Brain Binge on Women's Trauma Within Horror Cinema.

    As a core member and producer with Nyx Horror Collective, creators of 13 Minutes of Horror Film Fest for Woman-Identifying and Non-Binary creatives, she has partnered with horror streaming giant, The Shudder Channel for 2021 and 2022, as well as Stowe Story Labs where the collective has created a fellowship to help support woman-identifying creatives over 40+ working in the horror genre. Mo has also been awarded a slot in the prestigious Black Women in Horror Class of 2023, and can be found in the collection, "160 Black Women in Horror" by Sumiko Saulson, Kenya Moss-Dyme, and Kai Leakes

    Still engaging with her first love, short horror literature, her work can be found in "A Quaint and Curious Volume of Gothic Tales", by Brigid's Gate Press, and "206 Word Stories" by Bag O' Bones Press. Her debut novella, "Love the Sinner" will be released on July 5th through Brigid’s Gate Press and her following titles, "Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment Volumes 1 & 2 will be released in 2024 through Spooky House Press.

Panel K: Horror as an

Agent of Change

How can the genre we all know and love create a new future, sparking action and driving radical progress?  Moderated by Ariel Baska and Phil Nobile, Jr.

  • Ariel Baska is a multiply Disabled queer horror and documentary filmmaker who believes in advocacy and accessibility for marginalized communities. She wrote and directed the horror short, Our First Priority, about medical gaslighting, which won the BAFTA-qualifying Advocacy Award from Superfest Disability Film Festival. As a producer, she works in both narrative and documentary, with numerous projects on the festival circuit. She was a speaker at SXSW in 2022 and 2023, and is a fellow of the PAM CUT Sustainability Lab, endowed by the NEA for interdisciplinary artists, and also a fellow of the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab.
    She is a podcaster, non-profit owner, and internationally-published writer who curates creative spaces for disabled filmmakers. Her work can be seen on Ride the Omnibus, her podcast and non-profit parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice.

  • With a dad in special effects makeup, blood and guts became a normality for Kyra at a young age. Combat nursing was her first goal, but she soon discovered that real blood is way grosser than the fake stuff. She's been pursuing a career in directing since attending Florida State's film program and plans on creating quirky fantastical films from the lore of her unconventional childhood.

  • In 2019, Kramer was named one of Indiewire's ""Directors Who Will Define the Next Decade,"" alongside Chloe Zhao, Greta Gerwig, and Ari Aster.

    Kramer's short films BARK, INTERVENE, and SIN ULTRA have played at Fantastic Fest, Chicago Underground Film Festival and Boston Underground Film Festival's Dispatches from the Underground. Her screenplays have been accepted into IFP’s Emerging Filmmakers program and Frontierés International Co-Production Market in Brussels. Kramer's music videos have premiered on Vogue, LA Record, Flaunt Magazine, and Complex.

    Her feature film PARIS WINDOW opened the Women Texas Film Festival and won the jury prize for Creative Vision at the DTLA Film Festival. Her feature film LADYWORLD was selected for the Frontierés Buyers Showcase at the Marche du Film at Cannes. The film had its US Premiere at Fantastic Fest ('18) and its International Premiere at London BFI Film Festival. LADYWORLD also showed at Denver International Film Festival, SF Indie Fest, TIFF Next Wave, Seoul International Women’s Film Festival, and Sydney Film Fest. LADYWORLD had its theatrical and streaming release in August 2019. The film will be re-released by Yellow Veil Pictures in 2023.

    Her film PLEASE BABY PLEASE (starring Andrea Riseborough, Harry Melling, Karl Glusman, and Demi Moore) opened the 2022 International Film Festival at Rotterdam, headlining a filmmaker focus section that included all of her past work as well as the premiere of her one-woman spectacular feature GIVE ME PITY! (starring Sophie Von Haselberg). PBP is distributed by Music Box Films, and GMP is distributed by Utopia.

  • Phil Nobile Jr. is a lifelong movie lover and an Emmy-award winning writer/producer based in Philadelphia. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of FANGORIA Magazine, and is an executive producer on the acclaimed documentary projects HORROR NOIRE and QUEER FOR FEAR.

  • Isabella Vargas is a multimedia filmmaker and artist who works at the intersection of media and activism. She is interested in writing and directing character driven and magical realist works in order to rewrite narratives about her intersectional communities. Vargas questions the marginalization of people and their relationship with disability, ethnic identity, queerness, and their ties to intergenerational trauma Vargas is a current BRIClab fellow, a future MDOCS recipient, and a future Emerge Fellow with the San Francisco Longmore Institute. Vargas was also a previous UnionDocs fellow where her work previously centered on creating video content for local NYC community organizations. Outside of her film work, Vargas is an active member of the artist collective The Illuminator where her media work focuses on amplifying national organizations and their messages.

    She is an engaged disability activist and passionate community organizer, being a previous labor organizer and immigrant rights activist, outside of her artistic work. Her on-the-ground advocacy experience plays an integral part of her creative process and constant inspiration.