Mentorship Program

About THE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

The ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto has launched our inaugural Mentorship Program, for emerging d/Deaf and/or disabled Canadian creatives in the film and TV industry in Canada.

Description: The mentorship is for emerging d/Deaf and/or disabled screenwriters and actors, and will be tailored to the needs of the mentee. Mentorship support can take the form of: story editing a short, feature, or TV show; writing funding or program applications; making industry connections, etc. Mentorship activities will take place online.

Mentors: Three (3) selected participants will be paired with an Industry and Community mentor, who will provide up to three (3) hours each of mentorship per participant.

Mentorship Period: May – August 2023

MENTORS

Anthony Q. Farrell

Writing Mentorhe/him

Anthony Q. Farrell is a BAFTA-winning, Emmy-nominated writer/producer who has worked in Canada, the US, and the UK for over 15 years. He is currently the creator, showrunner and executive producer of CTV's half-hour comedy Shelved. He has served as executive producer and showrunner of CBC's Run the Burbs, Overlord and the Underwoods, The Parker Andersons/Amelia Parker, and the BAFTA-winning Secret Life of Boys. Anthony's writing credits also include NBC's The Office, Nickelodeon's The Thundermans, and Little Mosque on the Prairie. Anthony was honoured as Showrunner of the Year at the Writers Guild of Canada Awards in 2022, after receiving the same title from Playback in 2021.

Ophira Calof

Writing Mentorshe/they

Ophira Calof is a multi-award winning disabled writer, performer and consultant who works to “crip the script,” centring disability knowledge and experience. Their credits include TallBoyz (CBC), Kids In The Hall (Amazon Prime), sketch comedy revue Generally Hospital (Canadian Comedy Award Nominee) and their solo show Literally Titanium, which has been featured in both academic and performance spaces as a case study in accessible production. They are currently story editing for an unannounced CBC comedy series.

Ophira is also the creative director for the Accessible Writers’ Lab, a national initiative presented by AMI, RAFFTO and sponsored by the Canada Media Fund, to experiment with what an accessible tv writers’ room might involve. Ophira was also the accessibility process lead for AccessCBC, and the curatorial committee lead for the 2022 ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto. They have taught workshops internationally on storytelling, writing, music, accessibility and disability narratives, and created the courses Sketch Comedy with Ophira Calof and Crip Storytelling, a series in partnership with Centre of Independent Living Toronto and the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.

Ophira graduated from Second City’s Writing and Sketch Conservatory programs and the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Emerging Creator’s Unit. They were featured in the Second City 2018 Toronto Diversity Fellowship Showcase, are the 2018 recipient of the Tim Sims Encouragement Award and received the 2021 Cahoots Theatre Promising Pen Prize. They are currently a TV writing fellow for the 2022 RespectAbility Lab for Entertainment Professionals with Disabilities.

Jesse Griffiths

Acting Mentorhe/him

Jesse Griffiths is a Casting Director. After over a decade of working as an actor in film, TV, and theatre, Jesse made a pivot and began his career in casting. He opened Jesse Griffiths Casting with the goal of combining his passion for the arts with his knowledge of local talent. His focus is, and will always be, to push for more inclusion and diversity in the casting process. He devotes part of his time to the development of the next generation of artists and has taught at Toronto Metropolitan University, Sheridan College, ACTRA Toronto, and leads a monthly workshop for Toronto's BIPOC community. He is a mentor at the Canadian Film Centre’s Actors Conservatory, a member of the Casting Society of America (CSA), serves on the Executive of the Casting Director's Society of Canada (CDC), and is on the professional advisory committee for Seneca College, George Brown College, and Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the proud recipient of the ACTRA Toronto Sandi Ross Award. Jesse is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University with a BFA in Theatre Performance.

Alexia Vassos

Acting Mentorshe/her

Alexia Vassos is an actor currently based in Toronto. An alumna from the Theatre and Drama Studies joint program between the University of Toronto and Sheridan College, she holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and an Advanced Diploma in Acting. Since graduating, she’s appeared both on stage and screen in a variety of theatre productions, commercial campaigns and TV/film ventures. In her recent endeavours, Alexia has been able to combine her love of the arts with her passion for disability advocacy, moderating events, participating on panels and facilitating workshops that focus on accessibility within the industry and reflect her experiences as a disabled artist. Upcoming project: Richard Three, Shakespeare in the RUFF. 

MENTEES

Charlie Bystrom

Writing Menteehe/him

Charlie Bystrom is currently in the 4th year of his BA in English Literature at the University of British Columbia. He has previously worked as a Production Assistant on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (CW), Batwoman (CW), and Fire Country (CBS). As a TV writer and viewer, Charlie enjoys shows with character-driven plots of any genre. He aims to have all of the Disabled characters he creates be portrayed by a Disabled actor. Charlie hopes to one day write a script that will break a record for the highest number of Disabled cast and crew on a production.

Louisa Phung

Writing Menteeshe/they

Louisa Phung, writer and director for stage and screen, is based on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples known as Vancouver, BC. Shortly after being diagnosed with ADHD at 40 amid the lockdown, her writing career took off to include developing her first stage play with VACT’s MSG lab, completing her first feature-length screenplay with Reign Films and developing an immersive stage play incorporating video projection, animation, and performance with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. Louisa sat on the DGCBC’s EDI Committee for six years and is extremely excited to participate in RAFFTO’s inaugural screenwriting mentorship program. 

Veronika Swartz

Writing Menteeshe/they

Veronika Swartz is a deaf actor, burlesque dancer, comedian and writer with over a decade of experience. She has studied various styles of writing with established teachers such as Jen Whalen, Daniela Saioni, Dawn Whitwell and Albert Howell, as well sketch and improv with various instructors at Second City and others. For the stage she wrote and performed for the critically acclaimed Shameless Dames burlesque troupe for almost a decade in Toronto and writes and performs stand-up also. For the page, she has been published in Eye Weekly, Sex Life Canada, and is currently a contributor to The Beaverton.

Sivert Das

Acting Menteehe/him

Sivert Das is a biracial, visibly, and invisibly disabled immigrant actor, voiceover artist, writer, musician, comedian, and activist based in Toronto. He's a University of Victoria's performance program and Second City Conservatory graduate. He is the first physically disabled person of color to graduate from those programs. He has worked all over Canada as an actor and writer from BC to Ontario. He has written several plays and his writing has also been published by Intermission magazine. His work combines the absurd and the fantastical mixed with poignant social commentary. His activism focuses on raising awareness for Disabled and BIPOC communities.

Victoria Urquhart

Acting Menteeshe/her

Victoria is an award-winning Neurodivergent Mad, Queer, actor, writer and director. She frequently pursues projects that create access for audiences facing isolation, including the Julius Caesar Project, and the Shakespeare-In-Hospitals Program. Most recently, she directed/dramaturged WITCH: A semi-staged reading in the One Night Only Festival and entered development of her play, I, Can Fly through the support of RealWheels Theatre’s Writer's Circle, the Playwright’s Guild of Canada, Nightwood Theatre and the Canada Council for the Arts. She was also named a finalist for the 2022 Cayle Chernin Awards for her upcoming play, Don’t Say His Name. Big love to Jeff and Whitney.

Benjamin Faulknor

Acting Menteehe/him