Our First Priority

Ariel Baska’s award-winning debut short film, Our First Priority, is a tale of one girl’s experience of medical gaslighting and the avenging angels that keep our universe in balance.

This story focuses on the unique trauma faced by those within the chronic illness and disability communities. The film centers on medical gaslighting, but has undertones of other forms of trauma that often intersect in children who have faced extreme illness.

This story is born out of Ariel’s own childhood experiences with doctors, who, even as they acknowledged that she was a medical unicorn, could not believe that she had other symptoms that were not easily explained, and either dismissed her as overly dramatic or attention-seeking or depressed/anxious.

This story is vital especially now that so much of the world is beginning to acknowledge the marginalizations faced by those with chronic illness. By centering the story on a child, viewers are more easily able to empathize with her circumstances, and understand her relationship with her trauma.

The film won the Disability Advocacy Award from the BAFTA-qualifying Superfest Disability Film Festival, and was a selection of FrightFest UK, among many others.