B-Film screenings: Experiences of a disabled jobseeker discussion and The Peanut Butter Falcon film screening

Join B-Film for an evening of two film screenings; one a short documentary, the other a full screening of ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’. This thought provoking and engaging event, combining film screenings and discussion is opent to students and staff at the University of Birmingham. 

The event will begin with a short documentary which focuses on Dilesh, a young person with Down’s Syndrome, and the challenges he has faced in finding work. The film is part of an interdisciplinary and participative research project on inclusivity and decent work, supported by the Work Inclusivity Research Centre at Birmingham Business School. Collaborating on this project are Dilesh Tana (independent researcher), Ella Wright (Department of Film and Creative Writing at University of Birmingham), Genevieve Coderre-LaPalme (lecturer in Human Resource Management at University of Glasgow), Rory Macpherson (learning disability community nurse), and Siwen Shen (MSc Department of Film and Creative Writing at University of Birmingham).

This will be followed by a 30–40-minute talk from Stuart Murray, Professor of Contemporary Literatures and Film in the School of English at the University of Leeds.

Professor Murray is the author of Disability and the Posthuman: Bodies, Technology, and Cultural Futures (Liverpool UP, 2020 and open access) and the forthcoming Medical Humanities and Disability Studies: In/Disciplines (Bloomsbury). He is Principal Investigator on a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Project entitled ‘Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures' and joint Principal Investigator on a Wellcome Trust Research Development Project: ‘Living Bodies Objects: Technologies and the Spaces of Health’.

There will be a brief Q&A followed by a screening of the film The Peanut Butter Falcon, which features a character with a diagnosis of Down’s Syndrome Starring Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen and Dakota Johnson and directed by Tyler Nicholson and Michael Schwarts, it follows a man who has Down syndrome, who runs away from a residential nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a pro wrestler and befriends an outlaw who becomes his coach and ally.

This is a free event. No booking required.