Live ASL Interpretation
Drawing on the Disability Screen Office’s newly launched Reframing Access: A Best Practices Guide on Disability Inclusion in Canada’s Screen Industry, this conversation will explore how filmmakers can establish inclusive accessibility practices across all stages of production and beyond. Participants will work through practical strategies for identifying and removing barriers, creating more inclusive working environments, and implementing more equitable practices across the screen-based sector.
Elspeth Arbow
Operations Manager/Executive Assistant, Disability Screen Office
Elspeth Arbow is an experienced arts administrator, film programmer, festival professional, and event host and moderator. Currently, Elspeth is the Operations Manager/EA at the Disability Screen Office, a Canadian organization focused on lowering barriers for disabled people in front of and behind the camera in the film and television industries. Prior to joining the DSO, she spent many years at Hot Docs, where she worked in Youth & Education and Festival programming, as well as disability consulting. Additionally, Elspeth has served as a jury member for Lunenburg Doc Fest, Reel Abilities Toronto, and Visiones Nuevas Festival Internacional de Cine Joven in Lima, Peru.
Prasanna Ranganathan
Board Member, Disability Screen Office
Prasanna is a producer, human rights lawyer, diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging (DEIAB) advisor, speaker, writer, and arts correspondent. He is a founding board member of the Disability Screen Office and has worked with film festivals and institutions worldwide to advance accessibility and disability inclusion. Proudly claiming his identity as a South Asian queer person with a disability (blindness), Prasanna is a Consulting Producer on Born for Business, a docuseries on disabled entrepreneurs (Crave Canada, Peacock) and he is the recipient of the David C. Onley Award for Leadership in Accessibility from the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Kaila Hunte
Accessibility Consultant
17 Nov, 2026 6:30 pm
401 Richmond St. W (Commons Lobby, 4th Floor)IN PERSON ACCESSIBILITY
ASL interpretation will be provided for this session. Please click here to read about how we provide access.
This presentation will feature improved air quality by our use of a HEPA-filter ambient air purifier. Reel Asian is a mask-friendly festival.
Writers from Reel Asian’s TV Writing Program bring their original series to the table for a live reading of selected scenes, presented in collaboration with ACTRA Toronto. Professional actors will bring the characters and stories to life, followed by a reception with the writers, performers, and industry guests.
19 Nov. 7:30 pm
Ashley Duong’s BA'S BOOK, Reel Asian’s opening night film, begins with her father’s memoir and unfolds with the process of recreating her family’s history of war, displacement, and migration from Vietnam.
12 Nov. 2:00 pm
Hear from directors, producers, and creatives working across music and visual media about building worlds around songs, collaborating with artists, and finding new ways to connect music and image while navigating tight budgets and production schedules.
20 Nov. 7:30 pm
Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian, Asian diasporic, and Asian Canadian artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
