ECIFF is delighted to be working with DYSPLA again in 2022. Founders Lennie Varvarides and Kazimir Bielecki will be screening the DYSPLA new Filmmakers Residency Arts film, made possible by a grant from Film Earl’s Court and in collaboration with Film Earl’s Court/ECIFF 2022 during the festival week. This will include a panel discussion and Q&A.
The recent residency was designed to spotlight early career Neurodivergent Screenwriters from underrepresented backgrounds and provide an opportunity for Film and TV development producers to witness the benefits of an artist-led centred approach to script development. It launched in 2019 with the support of Arts Council England and offers a holistic script-writing programme designed to accommodate the completion of a finished manuscript.
Over the last six months, the DYSPLA Storymakers Residency worked with a selection of neurodivergent creatives to develop two new stories about queer identities – Venus in 13 by Alex Clake, and Man Code by Ryan Walker-Edwards.
These recieved TV Treatment and story bible about a morally ambiguous teen dropout, NEET, by Krishna Modhwadia and a new avant-garde film about female orgasm, ‘Cum like a Woman’, also written by Alex Clake and produced by DYSPLA and seed funding by Earls Court Film Festival.
Residency writers worked with professional script editors and received mentorship by DYSPLA Founder, Lennie Varvarides. This support helped each writer understand how their Neurodivergence impacts and enhances their creative process.
“The DYSPLA Storymakers Residency 2022 programme helped me stay accountable for my writing and has helped me to form a daily writing routine. Before the residency, writing felt like climbing up a mountain” – Krishna Modhawadia, 2022
