Project Art Works has been invited by Electric Palace Cinema in Hastings to co-curate their Neurodiversity Film Festival, a celebration of autism and neurodiversity on screen, making visible the characters and stories that are often invisible in contemporary mainstream cinema.
Saturday 29 March, 17.00 – 19.00, film starts at 17.30
The Stimming Pool, 2025, 67 minutes
Project Art Works, Braybrooke Terrace
We will be hosting a screening of The Stimming Pool, innovative award-winning filmmaking shot on location in and around Hastings and co-written by Sam Ahern, Georgia Kumari Bradburn, Benjamin Brown, Steven Eastwood, Robin Elliot-Knowles and Lucy Walker.
The Stimming Pool is an experimental—at times fantastical—hybrid feature film, co-created by a collective of autistic artists, the Neurocultures Collective, and filmmaker Steven Eastwood, who invite you into a neurodiverse world within the undulating logic of neurotypical environments.
Book your ticket here: eventbrite.co.uk
This screening will take place in the studio space of Project Art Works, one of the locations for the film, with high ambient light levels and the option to move around the space throughout the film. Members of the Project Art Works studios will curate additional spaces throughout the building, highlighting their own ways of enjoying film and the relationships between moving image and visual art in their diverse practices.
Project Art Works offers level access throughout and is suitable for wheelchair users. Spectrum, a character created and embodied by one of the film’s co-creators, Lucy, will co-host the screening alongside other artist/makers from the Project Art Works studio.
Sunday 30 March, 17.00
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, 1953, 80 minutes
Electric Palace Cinema, Hastings
Ellen Prebble, artist, B-movie enthusiast and Electric Palace newcomer, is delighted to host this special screening of a film that inspires and delights her.
An inspiration for the director of Godzilla (the subject of Ellen’s current work in process canvas), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms pioneered the “atomic monster” genre. It follows a ferocious dinosaur, awakened by an atomic test in the Arctic, that terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.
This screening is curated by Ellen Prebble of Project Art Works, who will also be sharing some of her paintings as part of the screening.
The programme includes an Oska Bright short film before the feature: Frame Frumble by Alexander Griffin.
Book your tickets here: electricpalacecinema.com
To see the full programme of films being shown as part of the Neurodiversity Film Festival by Electric Palace, please visit electricpalacecinema.com.
Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, families and circles of support. Our practice intersects art and care, responding to neurodivergence, its gifts and impacts. Challenging paradigms of inclusion, it spans direct practical and holistic support, film, events, projects and exhibitions. Project Art Works studios provide the conditions for a broad range of autonomous and collaborative practices with neurodivergent artists, who take part on their own terms.
Neurodiversity Film Festival is a celebration of autism and neurodiversity on screen, making visible the characters and stories that are often invisible in contemporary mainstream cinema. Presented by autistic and neurodivergent creatives and curators, we bring you a weekend of films showcasing autistic and neurodiverse film characters and narratives. Developed In partnership with Autism Spectrum, Eggtooth, AMAZE, Project Art Works, The Roebuck Centre and Oska Bright Film Festival, and made possible with funding from the BFI and National Lottery. All screenings are relaxed and £10 double-ticket price available.
A relaxed screening is where people can watch a film in a relaxed environment. They are different from regular film screenings because:
– the lights are low instead of completely off, so you can still see where you’re going
– the volume is a little lower than a standard screening
– you can move around the cinema freely as you wish during the screening
– you can leave the cinema room during the screening and return without having to worry
– you can make noise, stim, and enjoy yourself
– there is a friendly atmosphere
– there are people around if you need any help
Made possible with funding from Film Hub South East and the BFI FAN*
