The program explores central questions of norm criticism: Who decides what counts as normal? How are people made invisible through the construction of "normality"? What barriers—architectural, linguistic, social, epistemic—must disabled people navigate daily? And how can these structures be dismantled not through individual adaptation but through collective change?

A special focus lies on inclusive film practice and Disability Aesthetics. The works shown demonstrate that accessibility is not a restriction of artistic freedom, but its prerequisite. They show that access does not need to be added afterwards, but can be considered as a creative principle from the beginning. Subtitles become narrative elements, audio description becomes poetic acts, alternative navigation methods become collective performances.

The festival also makes visible the diversity of disabled people: from Deaf activists navigating between worlds, to autistic people resisting exhausting "masking," to people with rare disabilities searching for community. It shows people with ME/CFS who must disappear into darkened rooms, wheelchair users who want to live their sexuality self-determinedly, and people with dissociative identity disorder who don't want to be "healed" but to "thrive"—to flourish.

Intersectionality runs through the entire program: the films make clear that disability never exists in isolation, but is intertwined with other forms of discrimination—sexism, racism, queerphobia, classism. They show Black, non-binary, disabled performance artists, queer crip utopias, Venezuelan love stories, Korean-American family constellations.

The festival positions itself explicitly politically: it's not about showing that disabled people "also" can love, work, make art—as if that were an exception. It's about acknowledging that these self-evident things are systematically denied, and making visible the struggle for their recognition. The films are manifestos and invitations: they demand structural changes in the film industry and show concretely what these can look like.

Two panels deepen the questions raised in the film program: one panel is dedicated to ableism in the cultural sector, media representation, and structural barriers at colleges and universities. Another panel discusses questions of norm construction, community building, solidarity, and radical self-love as a political act.

FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES 2025 contributes to the development of a post-ableist film aesthetics and perception. The festival understands itself as a place of solidarity, learning, and transformation. It invites us to question familiar gazes, develop new forms of perception, and work together on a world in which diversity is not only tolerated but celebrated.