The Stimming Pool
The Neurocultures Collective, Benjamin Brown, Georgia Bradburn, Sam Chown-Ahern, Robin Elliott-Knowles, Lucy Walker & Steven Eastwood / United Kingdom / 2024 / World Premiere / 70 min
Created by a collective of neurodivergent filmmakers in an attempt to provide an alternative and artistic take on what it's like to live with neurodivergence in a chaotic world not made for those who are different.
A young man loves b-movies and runs his own film club. A woman fills out questionnaires and is undergoing an eye-tracking test. An office worker walks around with blue earplugs on their ears. A picture book tells the story of a superhero-like dog person who watches over people with disabilities. ‘The Stimming Pool’ is an experimental and sometimes magical hybrid film created by filmmaker Steven Eastwood and a collective of five different neurodivergent artists. Usually, people with different brains are the subject of films, but here they are behind the wheel. For example, how does it feel to walk into a completely full pub where everyone is chatting, playing table tennis and drinking beer? And where does the neurodivergent eye look in that situation? Shot curiously on crisp, beautiful 16mm film by ‘Aftersun’ cinematographer Gregory Oke, the different stories weave imaginatively in and out of each other.