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Cameron S. Mitchell

Filmmaker, ReelAbilities Rough Cuts – The Loreen Arbus Completion Award

Cameron was born in the small snow-covered town of Marquette, Michigan to his parents David T. Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder who are considered influential professors and researchers in the field of Disability Studies. From an early age, Cameron’s parents brought him onto set of their award winning films on disability such as Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks Back, A World Without Bodies, Self Preservation: The Art of Riva Lehrer, and many more. Cameron’s father taught him how to draw super heroes and comic books by tracing his favorite characters from series like X-Men, Spiderman, and graphic novels such as Maus, the latter which resulted in Cameron’s first illustrated novel “Maus: T4 Nevermore” where Cameron drew himself and his family as characters in the style of Art Spiegelman’s Maus series to document their filming of the memorialization of the Nazi T4 program in Germany. Films were a large part of Cameron’s upbringing and his parents study of film resulted in his early development as a cinephile. Early favorite titles included TITUS (1999), 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), THE MATRIX (1999), and THE ANIMATRIX (2003). Cameron immediately latched on to film’s ability to tell stories in new ways that were at the bleeding edge of society, technology, and ethics. After college, Cameron immediately set out to find ways to make a career in film including directing a documentary for the Philadelphia Film Office about commissioner Sharon Pinkenson and DPing several short and feature films. Cameron honed his craft in Philadelphia while working with the likes of M Night Shyamalan (SPLIT), Ron Howard (MADE IN AMERICA), and Domenica Scorsese (Almost Paris). In 2016, Cameron and his wife Rachel moved to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey where Cameron enrolled as prep tech at ARRI rental wanting to deepen his knowledge of not only film but of cinematography. After a year doing grueling work scrubbing cases and pushing camera assistant carts, Cameron worked his way onto the set of Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut and first feature film Molly’s Game. Before he knew it, he had joined the Local 600 International Cinematographer’s Guild and had acquired the gear and knowledge necessary to become a Steadicam and camera operator in part thanks to the moving camera class taught at his alma mater, Temple University. While working in the film industry, Cameron discovered a unique opportunity that finally combined all of his interests into one event: the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. After enrolling and making his first narrative short The Co-Op in less than 72 hours, Cameron was already finding success internationally with this first short film getting distribution in Belgium and France and eventually making its way as an official selection at Slamdance Film Festival. Cameron has since gone on to direct multiple short films, program and juror for Slamdance’s Disability focused Unstoppable program, and most recently directed a piece for PBS American Masters in conjunction with FWD-Doc–another group he has joined in his effort to increase authentic disability representation on screen. Cameron currently continues to work as a Director and Cinematographer with multiple disabilities including Sleep Apnea, a spinal chord injury, and Neurodivergence–his goal is to carry on his family’s work and push until he sees work that reflects the experience of actual disabled people on screen. His next project is his first documentary feature entitled Disposable Humanity which documents his family’s investigation of the targeting of Disabled people in 1930s Germany, the formation of the Aktion T4 program, and how that program eventually catalyzed the Holocaust.