A New Neurodivergent Film Fest Comes to The Frida Cinema

Jessica Peralta
8 minutes ago
4 min read

The BluStar Film Festival will showcase the works of neurodivergent filmmakers and topics on May 2 in Santa Ana.

A still from the film, "Extraordinary Character," which will be playing at the BluStar Film Festival. Image courtesy of Blu Star Productions

When Alex Astrella was diagnosed with autism at age 2, doctors told his parents that he likely wouldn’t be able to do things like attend college and otherwise live a full life. But today, the Laguna Niguel resident owns an inclusive film production company and is currently launching a neurodivergent-focused film festival — and he has a master’s degree.

“I've been very thankful to surpass those expectations and that's what my stories revolve around, is just breaking through and proving the doubters wrong,” Astrella said. “That's the goal of the film festival, too, is to show … we have the ability to showcase our awesome work on the big screen.”

The local filmmaker heads Blu Star Productions, which is producing the neurodivergent film festival at The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana on May 2, with screening blocks from 3 p.m. through 11 p.m. (The name Blu Star is inspired by the unofficial color of autism, which is blue, and Astrella’s last name, originating from the word star.)

The BluStar Film Festival will include works of neurodivergent filmmakers as well as cover related topics. There is also a virtual festival planned with livestreams, Q&As and at-home screenings from May 2-16 for those who can’t attend the in-person event.

“The main thing is just fostering collaboration and community,” Astrella said. “Having this event I think will be really cool for collaborations to hopefully happen.”

The Frida Cinema marketing director Bekah Phillips said it’ll be a jam-packed day of showcasing the films of predominantly local, neurodivergent filmmakers across eight production studios.

“Many of the filmmakers will be attending the festival in person, including amazing guests like Dani Bowman, who you may recognize from Netflix’s ‘Love on the Spectrum’ series,” she said. “Events that are solely focused on celebrating neurodivergence in the creative, entertainment world are few and far between, which is why the BluStar Film Festival is so special. We are beyond honored and excited to host a full day honoring neurodivergent filmmakers telling and educating audiences on their own stories with their own words, in their own way.”

A still from the film, "Job Interview from Hell," playing at the BluStar Film Festival. Image courtesy of Options For All

Adam Brainin, head of marketing and strategy at Blu Star, said the festival includes a lineup of short films across narrative, documentary, animation and experimental forms.

“What stands out is how original the work is,” he said. “These aren’t predictable stories, and that’s what makes it exciting. You’re getting a real range of perspectives and styles. We’ve structured it in blocks so people can experience different kinds of work throughout the day.”

He said they’re featuring a mix of studios and independent creators — including works connected to Spectrum Laboratory, Exceptional Minds and The Miracle Project.

“It’s a strong group and having everyone in the same space is going to be really special,” he said.

Jason Weissbrod, co-founder and head of film and acting programs at Los Angeles nonprofit Spectrum Laboratory, said they’re screening three short films at the festival.

“The first film we're screening is called ‘Puppet Night’ and that is our newest short film, that we created in five days for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge that just finished up,” he said. “It's all about people on the autism spectrum expressing themselves through puppets in a one-night theater event called ‘Puppet Night.’”

They’re also screening “Single,” created by an all-LGBTQ+ cast and crew, and mostly female creators who worked on the movie.

“It's a female LGBTQ+ story about a transgender young female and a gay young female who have a nice conversation one day while meeting up while one of them is really upset about the fact that they’d just recently become single,” he said. “It's a really sweet short film that highlights not only LGBTQ+ autistic artists but also female, so that's a very unheard voice.”

Posters from two films screening at the BluStar Film Festival.

The third film is called “The Benchwarm-Nerds,” which is a comedy about three outcasts in high school who just can’t seem to find their place but end up finding each other.

“It's just a really sweet high school coming-of-age story,” he said.

He said in all three projects, everybody you see on screen and most of the crew is neurodivergent or autistic.

“We're really highlighting films that are … like 80% to 90% fully neurodivergent creative, from in front of camera and behind camera,” he said.

Weissbrod said he’d love to see the film festival become an annual event.

“I'm very excited to see it happen and very excited to collaborate with (Astrella) on it,” he said. “It's definitely a much-needed festival. There's a lot of great stuff being created by neurodivergent artists.”

He said in times like these when there needs to be more acceptance, awareness and positivity in the world, the types of stories that come from autistic and neurodivergent minds are often very positive, heartwarming and uplifting.

“Art is a great way of educating people who may not know about what it is like to be autistic or neurodivergent,” he said. “The more we can tell these types of stories and actually cast creators and actors as writers, directors, producers and actors in these types of roles representing themselves, the more diversity we'll see in media, which is just going to make the world a better place.”

Astrella is looking forward to showing the talents of the filmmakers on a big screen.

“A lot of the times these artists have only seen their work on TV screens in their classrooms or in conference rooms, which is still really cool, but I'm just really excited to see them see it on the big screen,” he said. “So I'm just really excited for that, for audiences to hopefully just kind of lose themselves in the work and be excited about being present and being engaged in the work of these neurodivergent filmmakers who have every right to have their films be screened on the silver screen.”