SXSW 2026 | Stutter & Disability in Film, Tech, Education and Media
Working across the disability and media spaces, I’ve noticed a gap. Stuttering, and disability more broadly, was almost always absent from the conversations shaping film, tech, and education.
I saw an opportunity at SXSW and built an event around it, bringing together Proud Stutter and the Arthur M. Blank Center and shaping four panels around how stuttering and disability are represented and understood.
Role
Ideated, pitched, and produced, from concept and partnership development through programming and day-of execution.
Event Overview
An SXSW 2026 morning of four panels and film conversations, bringing together filmmakers, technologists, educators, and advocates.
The programme featured directors and subjects from SXSW-premiering films THE ASCENT and THE WAY WE MOVE, the Untitled St. Stephen documentary, and leaders from New Disabled South and AImpower.org.
Still Here: Images of Resilience and Memory
A public photography exhibition and short film preview celebrating Black life, identity, and intergenerational memory in the rural South.
Created as a fundraiser for the St. Stephen documentary I’m directing.
The event was designed to make guests feel as connected to the town and Isaac’s story as we did while filming, turning documentary photography into an immersive experience.
Role
Creative lead. I produced and edited the documentary sizzle reel that premiered at the event, and conceived the immersive gallery concept built around our production stills.
Building the Experience
The idea took shape while we were filming in St. Stephen, South Carolina. Our DP, Jon, was capturing photographs alongside the footage, originally for Instagram and to promote the film, but they became more than promotional images. They captured the beauty of the town and the intimacy of Isaac’s family.
I wanted people in San Francisco to feel some of the same connection we felt while filming.
We printed the photographs on canvas and built the space to feel like the inside of a home, with images framed on walls and propped on side tables. Before guests saw the sizzle reel or heard from the family, they first walked through their world.
Event Overview
An immersive evening at Rivian San Francisco premiering Jon Harrison's photography from the film alongside a first look at the documentary.
Program featured Jim LeBrecht (Crip Camp), Dom Kelly (New Disabled South), and the film's subject Issac Bailey, with comedian Nina G. as emcee.
The Outcome
All proceeds funded the next phase of filming in the Carolinas.