Event review: Stammering on Screen

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To celebrate International Stammering Awareness Day (ISAD) 2026, the City Lit in London put on a mini-film festival made up short films about stammering. STAMMA volunteer John went along and tells us all about it.

On Friday 23^rd October, the day after ISAD, I went to the City Lit for their special 'Stammering on Screen' event. The evening consisted of four short stammering-related films, all with a different message to convey.

Film one: This is how my voice moves

Graeme Pickering, choreographer and co-founder of Stammers Matter CIC, has put together a beautiful and well-thought-out series of movements and dance moves in his film This is How My Voice Moves. 

I was impressed by the detail in this short film that highlights the physical aspects of stammering, eg, the block, the pause, and the general pace of stammering. I believe it fulfilled its aim of challenging the portrayal of stammering in the media by representing stammering authentically. 

Watch This is How My Voice Moves below and read more about it.

Film Two: Voiceless

Joe, played by Matt Hansen, who also wrote the script, is a young man who stammers who is invited along to his friend's performing arts group to overcome his fear of public speaking. After a less-than-successful first attempt, his friend Catie, played by Martina Zucchinelli, encourages Joe to try again, and this time, allows him to tell a story of when she was a little girl.

When Joe gets up to speak, he is able to work through his stammering blocks to deliver a story which is well-received by the audience. Joe has the courage to signal to the compere, who wants to intervene and help him.

Joe has a big smile on his face at the end, as if to say, 'I can do this'. 

Watch the trailer below and read the story behind it, in Matt's article.

Film Three: Stutterbug

In his film Stutterbug, Irish stand-up comedian who stammers Aidan Green plays a covert stammerer who goes to extreme lengths to be — or appear — fluent. His efforts to do so, however, lead to misunderstandings and a few less-than-comfortable conversations.

Aidan narrates his own internal dialogue prior to a speaking situation he has to encounter, which is very funny, and when he is trying to speak, the camera focuses on what his mouth is trying to do.

Whilst in a coffee bar, Aidan sees a girl he knew from college, Ally. She introduces Aidan to her brother, Sean, played by STAMMA patron Scroobius Pip. The pair get talking, but it's not long before Aidan says something that is misinterpreted by Sean and leads to an argument, and Ally has to defend her brother.

Aidan is to be congratulated for a film that seeks to embrace a stammer, rather than trying to hide it.

Read Aidan's article telling the story behind the film.

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Caption

A scene from Aidan's film Stutterbug (courtesy Aidan Greene)

Film four: We are the audience

I first saw the next film We are the Audience when it was screened at STAMMAFest back in August. This Canadian documentary exploring representation listens in as a group of people who stammer talk about their experiences. It sets out to challenge the feeling — or perceived feeling — of being invisible, asking how do we, as people who stammer, want to be represented? Watch the trailer below.

Immediately after the screening, the facilitators set up a Zoom call with the film's co-founders Genevieve Lamoureux and Aidan Sank, who were taking audience questions from Montreal and Vancouver respectively. 

Watch the trailer below:

City Lit's Stammering on Screen event proved to be a very educational and informative evening. Seeing four very different stammering-related films was definitely food for thought. A bonus for the audience — and for me, personally, was being part of a Q&A session hosted by Voiceless actors and filmmakers Matt Hansen and Martina Zuchinneli after its showing, and then speaking with them afterwards. They told me they had been busy promoting Voiceless at various American film festivals, which is very exciting. At some point — Matt tells me — the film will be available to view online, so watch this space.