Expanding the Frame

About our events

Young girl smiles at camera next to other children and adults laying on bean bags in a cinema, watching a film
Expanding the Frame, touch screen Credit: Will Pace 2023

Opening doors and breaking down barriers for disabled audiences

Expanding the Frame is MAC's three-year project supported by Film Hub Midlands which is focussing on significantly improving access to cinema for disabled audiences in the West Midlands.

As part of this, MAC has been piloting new programmes and events to ensure that disabled people can experience film in an accessible environment, as well as seeing themselves reflected on screen.

Expanding the Frame is made possible by the generosity of Film Hub Midlands. This project is also kindly supported by Mr Geoff Poole, in loving memory of Mrs Carol Poole.

About the programme

A woman dressed in white bends down to give something to a small child. A smiling child is standing behind her and a curious baby is looking at her hand.
Sarah Hamilton-Baker, Artist

touch screen

Join artist Sarah Hamilton Baker in MAC’s cinema for a sensory journey through film. During these relaxed screenings you will be invited to touch, smell and feel your way through a collection of shorts.

A smiling man in his twenties with a beard smiles at the camera. He is sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a lanyard and an orange T-shirt.
Conor O'Donovan, guest programmer
A younger Black woman wearing glasses smiles at the camera. She is wearing a pink blazer and a flowery skirt and is sat on a purple cushioned pew.
Elaine Lillian Joseph, associate programmer
A woman in her late thirties with short brown hair and bright red lipstick on smiles at the camera. Behind her are a collection of flip-up seats in a theatre space.
Sarah Hamilton-Baker, touch screen facilitator

Disability on Film

A season of films which look at how disabled people have been portrayed on screen.

The films have been selected by Elaine Joseph, an associate programmer for MAC Cinema who is an audio describer and founding member of SoundScribe and Conor O’Donovan, a guest programmer with lived experience of disability who is keen to get audiences to think beyond the usual tropes.

Inclusive cinema

MAC is also improving access across its wider cinema programme with increased use of descriptive subtitles and audio description, and greater representation of disabled stories and voices.

Black and white logos for Expanding The Frame, Film Hub Midlands, BFI, BFI Film Audience Network (FAN) and The National Lottery.

List of Events

  1. A fortysomething year old woman sits at a kitchen table, peeling potatoes. She wears a grey cardigan and a flowery blouse. Behind her is a sink and an oven, with a window to the left of her.

    Expanding The Classics: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

    Cinema
    More info
  2. A black and white photo shows a young white woman sat at a table in a grandiose manor. She holds a mirror up as she looks at hwer face in it. Next to her is a candelabra, with flames lit and wax dripping onto the table.

    Expanding The Classics: Great Expectations

    Cinema
    More info