Disposable Humanity to Open Oscar-Qualifying Run in Santa Monica
Award-winning documentary announces Oscar-qualifying run at Laemmle’s historic Monica Film Center
SANTA MONICA, CA — AUGUST 7, 2026 — Disposable Humanity, the award-winning documentary confronting the Nazi murder of disabled people, will have an Oscar-qualifying theatrical engagement August 28–September 3 at Laemmle Monica Film Center, with three screenings daily. The accessible venue offers accessible seating and restrooms, plus complimentary assistive listening devices for disabled patrons.
Winner of the Slamdance Audience Award, RiverRun International Film Festival’s Director’s Award for Community Impact, and the Ridgway Independent Film Festival Director’s Choice Award, Disposable Humanity was also nominated for Best Documentary of the Year by the Midwest Film Journalists.
Directed by Cameron S. Mitchell, the film brings to light previously unseen information and historical artifacts revealing how Aktion T4 developed the killing methods, gas-chamber technology, and trained personnel necessary to implement the Holocaust. The film documents how the Nazi regime first tested and discovered its system of mass murder on disabled people before transferring personnel, techniques, and infrastructure into the broader extermination program.
“Disposable Humanity is not just a film; it is a film counter-memorial,” says Mitchell. “By confronting the brutal legacy of Aktion T4, we seek to raise awareness about the contemporary implications of viewing individuals through a lens of disposability and its impact on disabled people.”
Featuring international scholars, artists, activists, advocates, and people with lived experience of disability and institutionalization, the documentary connects this history to an urgent contemporary question: What happens when a society decides that some lives are worth less than others?
“With more than 1.85 billion disabled people worldwide, many marginalized every day, this documentary is more urgent than ever,” says executive producer Steve Way, co-star of Hulu’s
Ramy. “It reveals the harsh realities faced by those often deemed expendable and underscores the necessity for societal change.”
Producer and researcher David T. Mitchell adds that the film “engages audiences in critical conversations about the rights and indignities created by societal neglect, abuse, and extermination involving disabled people—both then and now.”
OSCAR-QUALIFYING THEATRICAL ENGAGEMENT
August 28–September 3, 2026 | Tickets available at
https://www.laemmle.com/film/disposable-humanity
Laemmle Monica Film Center
1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA
Media: Cameron S. Mitchell | info@disposablehumanity.com
www.disposablehumanity.com
