We recently reached out to all the attendees at the screening of “The Ride Ahead” at DC/DOX to extend our most sincere apologies for our failure to provide a screening experience that was fully accessible, safe for all, and lived up to the standards to which we hold ourselves. We are sharing that letter as a public statement.
We understand that the experience fell short in multiple ways of fulfilling accessibility needs of the event, including ample and adequate accessible seating options, an accessible or acceptable location for the panel discussion, a slow and cramped elevator required to access the space, and the lack of family restrooms. We place accountability for these shortcomings entirely on ourselves, the leadership of DC/DOX, as we should have had the foresight to anticipate these issues and leaned more on the expertise of the film team or an accessibility professional for input on our venue selection. For that, we are profoundly sorry.
What should have been a joyous experience to revel in a beautiful film by Dan and Samuel Habib was severely compromised by the circumstances of the screening itself, with members of the film team and audience members feeling unsafe and dehumanized. The festival team has had the opportunity to discuss these shortcomings with the filmmakers, and we are deeply grateful for their willingness to speak with honesty and to welcome our own, and to forge a path forward.
For anyone whose experience was impacted by the issues at the screening, we welcome your feedback, conversation, and even requests for a refund. Please rest assured that we take your concerns seriously. In addition to sharing your feedback directly, we encourage you to fill out this Film Event Accessibility Scorecard. We have signed up to receive data submitted about our festival.
Despite our sincere good intentions, we understand that we fell woefully short. We will address our accessibility failures in the next iteration of the festival by seeking the professional guidance of an accessibility expert to ensure that we are living up to the highest accessibility and inclusion standards possible.
Sky and Jamie, DC/DOX co-founders
