Archives

A man with dark hair and glasses, in front of a black background, smiles at the camera.

Jason DaSilva

As a Director Jason DaSilva has been a prolific filmmaker for over the past 20 years. He has directed four short films (Olivia’s Puzzle, A Song For Daniel, Twins of Mankala, First Steps) and four feature length-documentary films. Olivia’s Puzzle premiered at the 2003 Sundance Festival and qualified for an Academy Award. In 2005 Jason was diagnosed with primary progressive MS and he turned the camera on himself, advocating and giving a voice to people with disabilities through his films.

Following the success of “When I Walk” (Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming, 2013 Sundance premiere, Hot Docs best picture). Jason premiered his sequel “When We Walk”, in 2019 at the Hot Docs Film Festival, which won best documentary at CAAMFest, and had its New York debut at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.  Jason is currently working on the last of the trilogy “When They Walk”.

In 2008 Jason setup AXS LAB, with the aim to engage audiences to explore the disability experience using new media, films and the power of story. AXS MAP is its primary technology branch, the largest online database in North America of accessibility, giving access to thousands of users a month for free to map and research the accessibility of establishments and public places.  In 2021 AXS Lab launched their first year of AXS Film Fund, a fund to support documentary filmmakers and nonfiction new media creators of color with disabilities in their endeavors to create content and tell stories.

Jason has also won the following awards: AAPD Mobility Magazine’s Person of the Year, the Paul E. Hearn Leadership Award, the Christopher Award for Excellence in Film and, Made in New York recognition at the Gotham Awards, and most recently, is being recognized by NYWIFT with the Loreen Arbus Changemaker Award at the MUSE awards.

 

A woman with long black hair stands in front of a dark background, gazing at the camera.

Nasreen Alkhateeb

Nasreen Alkhateeb is an Emmy award-winning Cinematographer whose work amplifies under-represented voices. Her ability to motivate audiences is a direct result of being part of multiple marginalized groups: Multi-heritage, Black, Iraqi,1st gen, raised Muslim, LGBTQ and Disabled. Her work has been featured by Kamala Harris, Oprah, NASA, Tribeca Film Festival, the Women’s March, the United Nations, FX Network, and Apple+. An ASC Visions Fellow, Alumna of the Sundance Accessible Futures Intensive, The Disruptors Fellowship, the RespectAbility Lab, given the Wild Card award by NASA peers, Forbes described her as “breaking barriers.”
A woman with light brown hair and glasses stands in front of a light blue background, gazing at the camera with a slight smile.

Sian Edwards-Beal

Sian Edwards-Beal, is an Emmy Award-winning producer, director and writer, who has created and delivered a comprehensive range of film, television and web content for networks including HBO, the BBC, National Geographic and Food Network. Her documentary credits include The Dalai Lama: Peace and Prosperity, Hacking Democracy, Smallpox and The Oklahoma Bomber. As the Co-CEO at Green Hummingbird Entertainment, Sian is committed to delivering high quality entertainment that creates the possibility for change.

A woman with long, dark hair sits inside a yellow aircraft. She wears aviation headsets and smiles at the camera.

Jessica Cox

Jessica is recognized internationally as an inspirational keynote speaker.
Born without arms, Jessica now flies airplanes, drives cars, and otherwise
lives a normal life using her feet as others use their hands. She holds the title
of the first person without arms to earn a black belt in ATA Martial Arts and
the Guinness World Record for being the first armless person in aviation
history to earn a pilot’s certificate. Convinced that the way we think has a
greater impact on our lives than our physical constraints, Jessica chose to
pursue a degree in psychology at the University of Arizona. Since then she
has traveled to 27 countries on six continents sharing her inspirational message.

A woman with short, light blonde hair gazes at the camera.

Sugandha Gupta

Sugandha Gupta is an inclusive textile designer, maker and educator who creates sensory textiles that include a wider audience through the engagement of multiple senses. She focuses on creative exploration and hands-on textile processes to transform materials and evoke different tactile, olfactory, auditory, and visual sensations. Her teaching philosophy as an art and design educator is to promote rigorous material exploration, representation, reflective practice, and research based inquiry. Gupta also has an active disability advocacy practice educating schools, colleges and museums about disabilities as opportunities and strengths. Gupta maintains an active artistic practice by participating in craft shows and exhibitions and has won prestigious awards such as, Dorthy Waxman Textile prize and International Design Award (silver).
A man with black hair and a mustache wearing a suit smiles at the camera in front of a blue, cloudy-looking background.

Milisci Louis

Louis is a Brooklyn, NY native who’s been working in accessibility at Bridge Multimedia for over 2 and a half years. Louis’ passion for film, media, and accessibility once lead him to work for the Marlene Meyerson JCC, supporting the ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York in coordinating, quality checking, and preserving film deliverables. His technical skills, attention to detail, and strong work ethic then brought him to Bridge Multimedia, where he creates captions, transcripts, and accessible documents — this time from the production side. In addition, he currently does research into emerging accessibility fields and technologies in service of increasing the possibilities of accessibility for all.

Kiah Amara, a White person with wavy dark blonde hair and brown eyes, wears a bright orange pinstriped suit and smiles broadly off frame right as they sit in a yellow velvet chair leaning intently forward.

Kiah Amara

Kiah Amara is a bi-coastal filmmaker, producer, Production Accessibility Coordinator, and media industry activist. Through their production company IndieVISIBLE Entertainment, their work focuses on identity, fluidity, commonality, misconception, and all things “deviant from normal,” including Accessibility as a production need for all. Kiah is a proud Queer Neurodiverse Enby Spoonie (UCTD, if you’re curious).

With a background in Disability Art and Education, their extensive work with Nonprofits, guides their industry and advocacy work to prioritize ease, intersectional awareness, and Disability Justice. They founded IndieVISIBLE, as a way to provide freeing spaces for Disabled artists and knowledge for non-disabled peers with a shared aim of crafting a more inclusive and compassionate industry.

Recent work includes PAC work on an unannounced family show on a major streamer, Consulting on shows like Blue’s Clues and Rosie’s Rules, and speaking at SXSW 2022’s 90 Minute Film School.

A man wearing a hat, yellow jacket and long scarf smiles at the camera.

Peter Lubell

Peter Lubell is a writer, director, producer, and storyteller. He’s performed on stages from New York to Edinburgh, and his work has appeared in print, on radio, and on television.

A woman with long, curly brown hair pours a cup of tea with a large smile.

Miranda Lee

After volunteering for ReelAbilities Film Festival’s preselection committee for two years, Miranda officially joined the JCC team as a Program Associate! A disability advocate on the autism spectrum passionate about her work in arts/cultural institutions, Miranda actively strives to open up conversations about and spread messages of accessibility, inclusion, diversity and equity. In addition to working with the JCC, Miranda has done consultation work for various arts/cultural organizations, including the New Victory Theater, Public Theater and New York City Children’s Theater, and assisted in the creation and development of the Museum of the Moving Image’s Marvels of Media Awards.