“A love story,” she giggles. Her favourite films include romantic comediesMamma Mia andLetters to Juliet. She’d also love to snag a role onNeighbours one day.
Henrietta Graham,one of students enrolled in a new film school at RMIT for Victorians living with a disability.Simon Schluter
“I would like to be like[the character] Chloe[played by April Rose] because I like her character and the clothes she wears.”
Ms Graham will get her first real crack at making her screen dreams a reality as a participant in the debut year of a film school in Melbourne specifically for people living with an intellectual disability.
Not-for-profit film school and production company Bus Stop Films last week officially launched a school in Melbourne in partnership with RMIT University for the 2022 academic year.
Ms Graham,who lives with Down Syndrome,will learn everything about filmmaking from script-writing,camera work,auditioning talent,set design,costuming and post-production as well as be mentored by industry leaders. At the end of the year-long course,everyone in the class will have made a short film.
While recent reality TV show successes such asEmployable Me andLove on the Spectrum have increased the visibility of Australians with a disability,Bus Stop Films CEO Tracey Corban-Matchett says the philosophy of her film school is that true diversity is when people with a disability are makers of TV and film –not just the subject – and the focus isn’t solely on their disability.
“We know whoever’s behind the camera really informs who we see on screen,” says Ms Corban-Matchett.
“Our students don’t always make films about disability. They just make films.”
Films produced by the organisation’s students over the past 17 years have appeared at festivals around the world and one – was recently submitted for consideration for an Oscar nomination for Best Short Film
Behind the scenes on a Bus Stop Films production.Bus Stop Films
“The attitude people have to disability often comes because they have low expectations – whereas we have very high expectations,” says Ms Corbin-Matchett.
Ms Graham will also learn key life skills to help her employment prospects,learning how to work in a team and travel independently to her classes at RMIT’s city campus on Sundays while she’s undertaking Year 11 VCE next year.
In recent weeks,Australia’s former disability discrimination commissioner has called out the country’s “abysmal” employment rate of people with a disability.
Graeme Innes used his appearance at the Royal Commission into Violence,Abuse,Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability in late November to call for
People with disabilities make up just 1 per cent of the workforce of the nation’s 10 biggest employers,the royal commission heard. They have a labour force participation rate of only 53 per cent compared to 84 per cent for those without a disability.
Ms Corban-Matchett said Bus Stop Films had placed students in paid employment in the screen industry as production assistants and roles in post-production. At least one student has worked on the production of Marvel’s newThor film,shot in Australia.
“You don’t get a job on a Marvel production out of pity – they don’t have time for pity hires,” she said. “They need to see that you’re going to contribute and you’re going to be a valuable employee.”
A key strategy of the Bus Stop Films model is employing film graduates without disabilities as tutors to create relationships for future employment,Ms Corban-Matchett said.
“We often find production companies’ or individuals’ reluctance to employ people with disability comes down to a lack of confidence,” she said.
“This is an industry based on relationships. So within your network,if you don’t have people with a disability,you’re less likely to hire them.”
Two Bus Stop films -Visible andWhat was it like? are streaming on.
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