Sneak Peek: James LeBrecht and Day Al-Mohamed Podcast

Day Al-Mohamed: If we're talking about the things that FWD-Doc is addressing, let's break that out a little, because there's a variety of things that have to happen before we can see that kind of inclusion that we're looking for. So, if we want to talk about barriers: the one that first comes to most people's mind, is access and accessibility. And it is only the very first step, right? If you cannot get on set, you can't really access it. If you cannot go to a local meeting-- and that sounds like such a small, petty thing, but for many folks, it’s the first step. "Okay, I want to make a film. What do you do?" The advice might be, "Hey, you should check out a local filmmaking group." And if that meeting is not in an accessible space, then right from the beginning, there is no access. There's no access to the opportunity to learn. And remember, filmmaking is a team sport. There's no opportunity to meet and get to know other folks. You work on their projects, they work on yours. That's how you build that kind of trust, and that's how you can go and grow to bigger and bigger projects. So, if there's no access, you can't go there. If there's not access at a festival, you don't even get to see your film on screen. And then, God forbid, if you do amazing things, and you go on and you win awards, and suddenly, oh, the stage isn't accessible, so we can't have you up there to speak, or to accept your award. So, right from the very beginning, access has to be a part of that.