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ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY

Our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity

At Happen Films, we’re committed to making our films and this website accessible to everyone and inclusive of all. We’re actively learning in this space and acknowledge all the learning still to come, so let us know how we’re doing.

You can use the form on this page at any time to send us feedback, highlight areas that need more work, and help us better serve your needs!

“Through our work, we want to make a tangible impact. Not just through films that inspire us to live more simply on the planet, but in embracing and encouraging a culture of inclusivity and diversity.”

Antoinette Wilson & Jordan Osmond, Happen Films

More inclusive representation

Part of that commitment is to continuously strive to represent a wider range of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, and physical abilities. We want to more inclusively represent our audience, enable more people to see themselves reflected in our work, and make it easier to access that work.

One step towards this goal has been in making changes to this website to make it more navigable and readable for people of all abilities and preferences, and in all situations. It’s a work in progress, so please bear with us as we learn what is needed to truly meet everyone’s needs!

Audio-described film versions

We’ve also released our first film with audio description (AD). Fools & Dreamers can now be played with full AD, making it more accessible for people with visual impairment or those wanting to listen, not watch.

Fools & Dreamers thumbnail

Play Fools & Dreamers audio description version

Our aim is to continue adding this feature to future films where we can, along with closed captions (CC) in one or more languages, and we’ve already started to build this into film budgets.

Whose stories are ours to tell?

Another step is for us to consider inclusivity as part of the pre-production process for each film, and in how we operate as a company in general.

Whose stories are ours to tell and what is the most appropriate way to tell them? Whose stories are missing from our past work? In what ways can our films express our commitment to being good Treaty partners (Tangata Tiriti) in Aotearoa New Zealand?

We welcome your thoughts about the ways we can achieve these goals, and how you feel about the changes we’re making. All feedback is welcome – use the form on this page at any time. 🙂

Working to improve accessibility and inclusivity

Implementing the changes we want to make is a big process and will take time. Below is a list of what we’ve done so far towards meeting our accessibility and inclusivity goals, what we’re currently working on, and what’s in the pipeline for the future.

Work completed so far

  • New brand identity fully compliant with W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 to meet AA standards for colour contrast.
  • Release of first Happen Films audio-described film version (play the full AD version of Fools & Dreamers).

Improvements that are in progress

  • Fixing heading structure, adding alt-tags, and readability issues across the Happen Films website.
  • Including funding for audio-described versions in budget proposals for all new films.
  • Building stronger relationships with those sectors of our community who have been poorly represented in our films to date.

A list of future work

What would you like to see here? Please let us know and we’ll add it to the list.

How are we doing?

Use the form below to provide any feedback about how we can improve accessibility.

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