A lot of what I do is to try and deepen the accessibility for the blind and visually impaired audiences, who like to enjoy film and television. I review films and discuss how the audio description did or did not work, or for projects without audio description, how easy or hard they were to watch, and what a viewer like me would be missing. I’m fortunate enough to have been accepted into a few critics organizations, and if lucky, I’ll be the first blind film critic on Rotten Tomatoes, bringing representation on the biggest scale there is. Discussing film critically, with the support of accessibility, just like millions of Americans.
I’ve benefitted a little from being a unicorn in this space, and I believe change comes in representation,but also in numbers. Around the same time I started doing reviews, two blind cinephiles started doing a podcast talking about film, audio description, and interviewing industry professionals, just like me. I’ve had the opportunity to be on the Dark Room podcast before, as I have many others, and I wanted to do something truly unique and disruptive. The Razzies started in someone’s living room, with a random assortment of Hollywood insiders taking shots at the things they didn’t like. now, they are a fully recognized (albeit, sadly) awards ceremony with a broad membership. All you need is the spark for change.
So, myself, Alex Howard, and Lee Pugsley have started the Blind Film Critics Society. Our mission is to recognize the best currently in film (perhaps television later), and highlight titles that have available audio description. Our eligibility requirements extended to streaming titles that premiered in 2024, as well as theatrical. Films with no known audio description at the time of voting were disqualified.
We have many of the typical categories: Best picture, director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, animated Feature, Documentary Feature, International Feature, Score, Song, Sound, as well as genres Best comedy and Best Horror. We also wanted to recognize the tracks and audio description teams for films, because sometimes we might have loved and respected an audio description track more than the film itself. So, we have categories designed for Best Audio Description for a Drama, Comedy, horror, and Action/Science Fiction.
Since this is just us getting out of the gate, we aren’t catered to by FYC teams. As a member of other critics groups, I can tell you that 99% of the screeners don’t have audio description. Perhaps this could change, but we need to inspire more to do what we do. So, if you’re interested in joining us for next year, we’re looking for members who make a concerted effort to review a minimum of 25 films released in 2025, with a focus on audio description and giving your perspective as a blind or low vision cinephile. Whether you start up a podcast, a YouTube channel, a blog, or even maintain a Letterboxed, we’re looking for people willing to put their thoughts out there about film, and audio description. representation matters, and strength comes in numbers.
Thanks to Lee and Alex for hosting the awards on The Dark Room, and to Liz Gutman for being our presenter for the ceremony. Check out the episode below. The link is to Apple Podcasts, but you can find The dark Room on any major podcasting platform, and they are also on YouTube @TheDarkRoomFilmcast.
Hollywood has become inundated with the internet allowing for anyone to be a film critic, and social media platforms have only changed the way criticism blurs with influence and entertainment. When I was five or six, I used to cut out the movie posters used in newspaper ads. I walked into my small town newspaper in middle school, because they didn’t have a film critic, and asked if i could freelance for them. I did that for almost two years before being replaced by a syndicated critic. Not only did I get the opportunity, but I showed the paper that having a critic was a viable decision based on their readers. While I had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly for almost 20 years, and saw what Siskel and Ebert were doing, I often saw and felt that their reviews could be out of touch. I always wanted to be a critic, because I loved films. People went into theaters and looked up at he big screen, and went on to become directors, writers, actors, or just part of the process. i wanted to be someone who could help people find movies to inspire or entertain them. I wanted to push back on the aging ideas of what made a film great, and I started noticing critics online taking different stances on film. They could take a film previously thought to be a critical or commercial failure, and turn it around by pointing out that this new generation that grew up in the wake of establishment critics had made their own lists of the best of the best. new classics were born, cult classics were celebrated, and films that made virtually no money at the box office went on to become the center of film criticism. I always tried to find some free blog site to keep expanding my writing as I worked in movie theatres and video rental stores. Eventually, I decided my degree should be in Cinema Studies, so I pursued a bachelors in what I loved the most.
Then I went blind. I was aware of the existence of audio description, as I handed out devices to the few customers that came in to the theater to request them. I was never really trained on how to fix them if something didn’t work. Just call the projectionist. I didn’t know how many or few titles had audio description until I learned how to activate it and advocate for myself, and along the way I saw the gaps. i saw classic films that had no audio description, current television programs that made no effort, and new things being created without any thought to budgeting for accessibility. Audio description is accessibility, but in some ways, it is unintentional censorship, as we frequently are reliant upon people who do not understand why we need this accessibility, because they do not use or need it, and happen to be the people who make the decisions about the use of it. The only way to change Hollywood’s perception is to make our voices heard, and the best way to do that is to do it together.
I’ve loved film my whole life. when people ask me what my favorite film is, I can name one, but the better answer would be “how much time do you have?” I would love for us to have more access to independent film, which rarely had the budget for audio description or thinks about it, and international cinema, so we can have a variety of cultural viewpoints. but, mostly, I want people to trust in audio description, that it will be there, and it will be good and high quality. When I was first navigating blind forums, I spoke to too many people who had given up on film or TV, or just watched programs from before they went blind, choosing just to repeat the familiar. Some of this had to do with the accessibility gaps, with audio description not being reliable or equipment failing in theatres.
we still have a long way to go, and the best way to do that is to be present. come and join us, and be part of the conversation, and move the needle. Accessibility isn’t an extravagance, it is a right.
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