The talent is already here.
The industry needs to catch up.
We create space for emerging talent to train, make work and connect with the film, television and theatre industry.
What is WILD LAM?
WILD LAM is a Dutch talent development foundation for disabled actors and creators.
We create space for emerging talent to train, create work and connect with the professional field. Our work started from a simple observation: disabled talent exists, but the routes into the industry are often missing.
We work with actors, filmmakers, educators, casting professionals, producers and cultural partners to change that.
Why it matters
Film, television and theatre shape the way we look at people. They influence who is seen as complex, funny, desirable, powerful, difficult, ordinary or fully human.
Disabled people are still rarely given that space. When they do appear, disability is often treated as the whole story: something to overcome, explain or soften for a non-disabled audience.
In order to change that we provide space to train, create and connect actors and creators with the professional field.
SHOWCASE
WILD LAM is built through practice: training, collaboration and productions that make disabled talent visible as artists.
HANDICAPABLE
Handicapable grew out of the first WILD LAM trajectory. What began as the casting process for Mari Sanders’ feature film STAND UP became a development space for disabled actors who had rarely been offered the room, support or professional context to grow.
The series was created by writer-director Mari Sanders, acting coach Hidde Simons and editor/cinematographer Daan Wijdeveld, together with the actors. Mari, Hidde and Daan also appear in the series as twisted versions of themselves.
The process was unusual. The actors had to built their characters themselves. This gave the series its particular tension: the story is fictional, but many of the reactions feel raw and real.
Today, the story continues: STAND UP has been selected for The Tribeca Film Festival, where it will have its world premiere in the International Narrative Competition.
Frames without Borders
In Frames Without Borders, film students and disabled actors from the Netherlands, Belgium and France work together to create short films in just 84 hours.
The actors gain real set experience, new material for their portfolios and the chance to build an international network through this project. At the same time, the film students learn what access means on set, how creative processes need to adapt, and what inclusive filmmaking asks from directors, crews and producers in practice directly from the disabled actors.
Frames Without Borders is a concrete model for inclusive film education, with the potential to grow into a wider collaboration between film schools, cultural partners and European networks.