The Gifts

"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." - Henri Bergson, French Philosopher 1859 -1941

When you see that very famous blue box from Tiffany's, you are pretty sure that there will be something impressive within it.   Now take that same impressive present and put in it another box, not bright blue, but any other color and perhaps the box is dented in some way.  What if I put an ordinary piece of costume jewelry in the blue box, and the priceless gem in the other box. Perhaps we would reach for the blue box first and neglect the dented box with the gem in it.  You get where I’m heading.  How often do we discard the very treasures we seek, simply because they arrive in packaging we didn't expect? 

Diversity and inclusion in documentary filmmaking

In Perth, Australia, during the 2023 World Transplant Games, a remarkable

alchemy was taking place. A film crew of young people: The Periscope Crew: was capturing something extraordinary. Not just sports footage, as they'd been tasked, but profound human stories of hope and resilience.  It is a story of the sacred gift of life itself. Their important documentary "Everywhere," directed by Catherine Kolomyjec and Claire Ha, tells a story of such depth and authenticity that it left me changed.

Here's what makes this story of such remarkable importance: every member of The Periscope Crew has physical attributes that many managers and administrators may see as 'disability" or perhaps it might only make them uncomfortable to be around these artists.  And  in our society's current climate, many hiring managers would have passed them over without a second glance.

Indie Cinema: The Uncomfortable Mirror

We live in an age where DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, have become buzzwords. There is a very vocal group's who has well-coordinated talking points against it.  Yet we do need to ask ourselves if we would even consider hiring a person of color or ability if we weren’t forced to?   They play into common fears and social discomforts.   But true DEI isn't about charity or political correctness. It's about getting us past our uncomfortable our fears, our unconscious biases, our snap judgments based on surface appearances that are causing us to throw away  the gifts of human talent and passion, because we don't like the way it’s  "wrapped”.

Authentic Storytelling in Film Festivals

What The Periscope Crew captured in "Everywhere" wasn't just documentary

footage: it was a lived understanding of what it means to navigate the world differently, to find strength in vulnerability, to discover beauty in places others might overlook. Their unique storytelling abilities didn't emerge despite their disabilities; in many ways, they emerged because of the depth of experience that comes from seeing life through a different lens.

Film festivals are homes to this kind of authentic storytelling.

Representation in media and the Economics of Exclusion

Let's speak plainly about the business case, because art and commerce need not be enemies.

In 2020 UCLA research reveals that large-budget films with below-average inclusive representation underperform by approximately $32 million: 20% of their budget: at opening weekend box office. Audiences are hungry for authentic stories, authentic voices, authentic representation. They can smell performative inclusion from miles away.

2025 Hollywood Diversity Report: Released in February 2025, this report analyzed the top films of 2024. It found that films with more racially diverse casts performed better at the global box office. Conversely, films with the least diverse casts (less than 11% actors of color) had the lowest median global box office sales.

But here's the deeper economic truth: every time we pass over talent like The Periscope Crew, we're not just missing individual opportunities: we're missing entire markets, entire audiences, entire ways of seeing and being that could revolutionize our content.

The Illinois Film Office has demonstrated this beautifully through their tax credit program. By requiring good faith efforts to include minority groups in production teams, they've created one of the most diverse film crew bases in the country. Over 50% of their crews now consist of women or racial minorities. The result? Not just better representation, but better films, more innovative approaches, stronger community connections.

This goes back to a point I made in an earlier blog about the importance of film festivals and staying to see all the films.    If I had left, after my block of films I would have missed this important film.   If I didn’t attend the film festival at all.  I would have missed this gem and so many others that didn’t make their way into the commercial mainstream.

Algorithms show you more of what you already like .. and already know.   Settling

into a well-curated film festival such as Love and Hope International Film Festival, exposes you to worlds you would have never known.

Check out The Periscope Crew and "Everywhere" it’s more than a successful documentary: it represents a profound challenge to how we see, how we hire and how we create. They remind us that the most extraordinary gifts often come in the most unexpected wrapping. Seeing it changed me.

“The point is, art never stopped a war and never got anybody a job. That was never its function. Art cannot change events. But it can change people. It can affect people so that they are changed... because people are changed by art – enriched, ennobled, encouraged – they then act in a way that may affect the course of events... by the way they vote, they behave, the way they think.”  - Leonard Bernstein

How many times do we ‘hire the box’?