About ReelAbilities Toronto

About Us

Launched in 2016, the ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto (RAFFTO) is the only Canadian chapter of the ReelAbilities Film Festival – the largest film festival in North America dedicated to showcasing shorts, features, and documentaries about Deaf and disability cultures.

At our festival and year-round, RAFFTO is driven by its mandate to:

• promote Deaf and disability cultures through film and uplift diverse and intersectional perspectives from these communities.
• spotlight the work of Canadian and international Deaf and/or disabled filmmakers, artists, and creatives.
• facilitate valuable networking and professional development opportunities for emerging and established Deaf and/or disabled filmmakers and other screen-based creatives.
• model accessible exhibition practices, ensuring that the festival experience is accessible to all.
• support the continued development of Canadian Deaf and disability film and arts communities through collaborations with community stakeholders, partners, and sponsors.

As part of its operations, RAFFTO also runs ReelEducation, a program which supports students and educators from K-12 and beyond in learning about disability cultures, inclusion, empathy, universal design, mental health and stereotypes, as well as attitudinal and employment barriers by providing free films, lesson kits, workshops, and other educational resources to classrooms across the country, year-round. Kicking off the festival each year, ReelEducation runs the ReelEducation May Matinees, a week-long program that presents free films and interactive workshops for youth led by facilitators with lived experience of disability. More information about ReelEducation is available here.

RAFFTO is based at the Wagner Green Centre for Access & Inclusion at the Miles Nadal JCC in Toronto, Canada. We welcome opportunities for local and international collaboration with emerging and established Deaf and Disabled artists, and community partners, sponsors, and volunteers.

Staff Bios

Effie Biliris

Outreach and Volunteer Coordinatorshe/her

Effie Biliris is excited to be a part of the ReelAbilities team as the Volunteer Coordinator. She is a passionate advocate for inclusion in her work and day-to-day life. Having been a volunteer and staff-member at organizations such as Holland Bloorview and the Miles Nadal JCC, she is eager to support her RAFF volunteer colleagues. Additionally, Effie is a photographer whose work has been displayed at exhibits across Toronto including Artscape Youngplace, the MNjCC gallery and Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. Effie currently is the Manager for the Wagner Green Centre for Access and Inclusion department at the Miles Nadal JCC and is looking forward to meeting and supporting all the volunteers of the festival.

2023 Festival Jury

Angelo Muredda

Jurorhe/him

Angelo Muredda is a Toronto-based teacher, film critic, and programmer. His writing on film has appeared in outlets such as Cinema Scope, The National Post, The Walrus, and Film Freak Central, and he is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association. He has curated screening series and workshops for the MNJCC and the Royal Cinema. He holds a Ph.D. in English on representations of disability in Canadian literature and film from the University of Toronto. He teaches in the Department of English at Humber College, where he is also Reviews Editor for the Humber Literary Review. 

Elspeth Arbow

Jurorshe/her

Elspeth Arbow is the Docs For Schools Coordinator at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and holds a specialist degree in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto. She cares about connecting all kinds of people to all kinds of films for the purpose of education, entertainment, and identification. As a person with a myriad of chronic illnesses, Elspeth spends plenty of time watching movies, so naturally, she turned it into her job. When she can, she enjoys dancing, eating in restaurants, and productive complaining.

Robyn Grant-Moran

Jurorshe/her

Robyn Grant-Moran (Métis) is a Toronto based writer, artist, and podcaster. While studying classical singing at York University, Robyn became fascinated with Indigenous representation in opera which lead to studying theatre criticism. After graduating with her Bachelor of Fine Arts, Robyn began writing for theatre publications focused on elevating voices of those historically underrepresented and in 2019, Robyn won the inaugural Nathan Cohen Award for emergent critics. Her writing has been published in Intermission Magazine, The Dance Current, The Toronto Star, as well as the Globe and Mail. Robyn cohosts the Canadian Opera Company’s podcast Key Change, as well as being a member of their Circle of Artists, working for greater diversity and inclusion of Indigenous voices in opera. When not writing, Robyn is often making beaded jewelry as the Salty Magpie, and still riding out the pandemic with her wee rat dog in their box in the sky.

Michelle Asgarali

Jurorshe/her

Michelle Asgarali is the series producer and writer of Breaking Character, AMI’s new character-driven docuseries offering a candid look at disability in the entertainment industry. The 10-part series premièring April 27th, 2022, follows six performers with disabilities hustle to make their mark on stage, screen and the runway in Toronto-- aka Hollywood North. Her big break came only three years after working with THA Media as the casting and social media producer of the award-winning Employable Me Canada, following neurodivergent job seekers as they prove their disability doesn’t make them unemployable. Born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare neuromuscular disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness, Michelle is no stranger to the challenges of navigating the complex world of inclusive storytelling. She used her unique perspective to carve out a career in documentary and TV development, creating entertaining content accessible to all. Something Michelle hopes to foster in others within the industry. In a recent collaboration with ReelAbilities TO, she co-presented a workshop with Ophira Calof on documentary filmmaking from the perspective of Disability for the University of Toronto. In 2020 Michelle guest-curated a special shorts program at the North Bay Film Festival co-presented with ReelAbilities. Person Before Ability exploring disability representation through the language of film, where she organized and moderated an accessible Zoom Q&A with six filmmakers from Australia, Los Angeles and Ontario.

Ebony R. Gooden

Jurorshe/any

Ebony R. Gooden is an emerging artist, filmmaker, and activist based in Calgary, Alberta. With a passion for storytelling and a commitment to social justice, Gooden uses film as a means of exploring and exposing the experiences of marginalized communities.

Gooden received a BA in digital communication and visual/multimedia arts from Gallaudet University, a bilingual institution for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Washington, D.C. Since then, she has become an emerging filmmaker and has been the recipient of numerous grants from organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts and the Calgary Arts Development. Gooden's films often focus on issues facing the Black Deaf community, as well as broader themes of identity, communication, and relationships.

In addition to her filmmaking work, Gooden is a co-founder of the SURVIVANCE Collective, an collective that aims to support and promote the work of Black Deaf artists. She is also a board member of the QuickDraw Animation Society and an EDIA consultant for Inside Out Theatre, both based in Calgary. Gooden's dedication to her craft and her commitment to social justice have made her an unique filmmaker and speaker. She has been invited to speak at numerous events and has served as a panelist and consultant for organizations such as the Calgary Development of Arts and the Black Arts Development Program.

With a growing body of work and a reputation as a passionate and insightful filmmaker, Ebony R. Gooden is poised to become a major force in the world of independent film. Whether she is exploring the complexities of the human experience or shining a light on issues that are often overlooked, Gooden's work is a testament to the power of storytelling to create change and foster empathy.

Connor Yuzwenko-Martin

Jurorhe/him

Connor Yuzwenko-Martin (he/him) is a Deaf creator and a fourth-generation settler with ancestry in Ireland and Ukraine. Both nations have a long and complicated history of working alongside or against the Indigenous peoples of Treaty 6, which include the Tsuut’ina, Nehiyawak, Anishnaabe, the Nakota Sioux, and the Niitsitapi.  Connor is a public relations specialist, actor, producer, and playwright. He has nurtured a lifelong passion for theatre and accessibility, beginning in grade school with simple skits and continuing into his young adulthood with his first professional engagement as a rookie improvisor at Rapidfire Theatre. To date, he has worked with organizations including Edmonton Fringe, Intrepid Theatre/Victoria Fringe, Theatre SKAM, SOUND OFF Deaf Theatre Festival, Nextfest, RISER Edmonton, Tiny Bear Jaws, Good Women Dance, Outside the March, Quickdraw Animation Society, and Sync Canada.  Currently he is slowly and gently launching The Invisible Practice, a hybrid Deaf arts collective and public relations agency based in amiskwaciy’waskahikan. The Invisible Practice will be premiering Carbon Movements, a solo Deaf contemporary movement performance, in March 2023, and has already produced and premiered After Faust as part of the RISER Edmonton 2023 season.  Connor relentlessly explores the intersections between Deaf/Disability experience, art, advocacy, and leadership. He is also a certified Access Activator through Tangled Art+Disability’s training program. In 2021, Connor completed his Public Relations diploma from MacEwan University and also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Alberta (2014).