In the Wake TV Producers Shayna and Julia tackle one of the most pressing debates in independent cinema: the tension between festival accessibility and the irreplaceable value of the in-person viewing experience. As more festivals offer virtual screenings, how do we balance democratizing access with preserving the communal magic of cinema?
Two Valid Truths in Conflict: Shayna and Julia discuss the reality that watching films at home via virtual festival access opens doors for disabled folks, people without travel budgets, caregivers, and those geographically distant from festival hubs—making independent cinema more accessible than ever before. But the in-person experience—sitting in a theater with strangers, feeling collective reactions, engaging in post-screening Q&As, and experiencing films as their creators intended—holds irreplaceable cultural and artistic value. So how do we honor both needs without sacrificing either?
Why This Matters: For marginalized communities, accessibility isn't a luxury—it's justice. Disabled people, low-income film lovers, and those with caregiving responsibilities deserve access to festival programming without being priced out or physically excluded. Yet the communal experience of cinema, especially for Black audiences and other communities where collective viewing is cultural practice, matters deeply. The solution isn't choosing one over the other—it's reimagining festivals to center both access and experience as equally essential.
Watch the full conversation as Shayna and Julia explore potential solutions: hybrid models, sliding-scale pricing, improved captioning and audio description, community screenings, and festival structures that don't force audiences to choose between access and experience.
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