Episode 86: Special Guest, Professor Janet Harbord (’Autism Plays Itself’ Video Essay)

Today I have special guest Professor Janet Harbord on the show. Janet is a professor of film studies at Queen Mary, University of London. Recently she has worked as a principle investigator (alongside Steven Eastwood) on a five year Wellcome Trust funded project called  ‘Autism through Cinema’.

Autism Through Cinema was a collaborative investigation into the relationships between neurodivergent thinking and cinematic creation. Janet is on todays episode to chat about her work directing a video essay called ‘Autism plays Itself’ where she asks how films made in clinical settings have contributed to how autism has been medically imagined and defined across the past seventy years. Janet takes one such clinical film and works in collaboration with autistic respondents to reframe the footage from an autistic perspective. 

Mentioned:

• ​Edinburgh Festival link: https://www.edfilmfest.org/film/out-of-competition-shorts/
• ​Toronto hot docs BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT DOCUMENTARY: https://hotdocs.ca/industry/conference/awards
• ​Trailer link: https://vimeo.com/919231648
• ​BBC Shortcuts hosted by Josie Long: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00224h3

Autism Plays Itself, Credits:

• ​Director: Janet Harbord - https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sllf/film-studies/people/academic/profiles/harbord.html
• ​Editor: Sasha Litvintseva - https://www.sashalitvintseva.com
• ​Sound Designer: Tom Fisher - https://tomfishersoundportfolio.com

Respondents: 

• ​Ash Loydon: https://x.com/AshtonLamont
• ​Sophie Broadgate: https://pikaiafilms.co.uk
• ​Ethan Lyon: https://letterboxd.com/dz1ga