Tribeca Film Festival 2026 Review: “Kids Like Me”

By Morgan Roberts

Directors: Cynthia Lowen and Jon Cohrs
Runtime: 88 minutes
Year: 2026

Filmmaking duo Jon Cohrs and Cynthia Lowen explore the life and creativity of a preteen with disabilities in their documentary, “Kids Like Us.” The film follows Oliver, an avid fan of murder mysteries living in small town Massachusetts with his family. Oliver also lives with several disabilities. The whimsy of the murder mysteries he enlists his family and family friends exists in the same realm as doctor’s appointments, school functions which lack accessibility features, medical bills, and younger siblings with extensive knowledge of what buttons to push. Often, when we see people with disabilities, they fall into two camps: stigmatized outcasts or single-dimension hopecore. Both rob individuals with disabilities of their complicated, messy, and beautiful humanness. In order for ourselves - the proverbial audience - to feel good we either further ostracize or patronize them. Here, instead, we get to see Oliver not just as a child with disabilities, but as a son, a brother, a student, a filmmaker, a preteen, and more. His multifaceted humanness is on full display.

Oliver Odwazny-Beebe and Jon Cohrs in “Kid Likes Me”

Moreover, Oliver is not the only central subject of the film. “Kids Like Me” ensures we hear from his parents, Casey and Chad. We seen glimpses of their lives and people and learn about their experiences as parents of a child with disabilities. We get to witness the world through Willa, Oliver’s younger sister, and hear about her experience as a sibling of a person with disabilities. We see the ways in which Oliver shapes their lives, not just in relation to his identity as a person with disabilities, but as a storyteller. We see him include his family in the murder mystery film he’s making. Include them in the making of special effects - there is some great DIY fake blood made in the family’s kitchen. What “Kids Like Me” accomplishes is not only showing a child with disabilities, but seeing the community around them and the many dimensions of their lives. We are able to see a holistic picture of Oliver’s life and the important people who populate it.

“Kids Like Me” is also deeply personal. Lowen and Cohrs have known the family for years, giving great care and attention to who they are as people. (You can check out my interview with the filmmakers to hear more.) And in that attention, the filmmakers certainly highlight the seemingly little elements of inaccessibility which greatly impact the lives of people with disabilities. They are able to humanize a call to action to be more cognizant of how your community, your school, your workplace, your favorite third spaces, can have better accessibility. How seemingly minute things like a ramp for events can improve someone’s accessibility. How accessibility needs vary by person, by place, by circumstance. And, in turn, how can you, now become active in finding new means of accessibility in your own life and community?

“Kids Like Me” is a thought-provoking and touching documentary. Grounded in the lived experience of one family, the film invites its audience to critically examine how they show up for their community. The film also has the distinction of the whimsy and creativity of one ambitious child.

Grade: A-

Double Feature With: “CODA” (2021) dir. Sian Heder