By Joni Renee
This short film, written, read, and sung by autistic writer Joni Renee is an elegy for her deceased father. The poem interprets grief and loss through the lens of the autistic experience, highlighting the sensory and tangible details of memory. The film is a true collaboration between Joni, producer Sean Cumming, and director/editor Anna Weltner. Each of the three artists contributed ideas to the filming and post-production process in order to bring the poem to the screen. In their formulation, the green chair of the poem becomes a green screen onto which memory is projected. This lush account of neurodivergence in loss honors nature, family, and the body.