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Thomas Reid a brown skin Black man with a clean-shaven bald head and full neat beard, smiles into the camera. He wears dark shades and a black and white checkered button up shirt.

Thomas Reid

Soon after becoming blind in 2004, Thomas Reid decided to re-ignite a dormant interest in audio production. After years of combining his interest in audio with advocacy, in 2014 he was selected as a New Voice Scholar by the Association of Independence in Radio. During that same year he began his podcast Reid My Mind Radio; where he pairs narrative storytelling  with music and sound design bringing you compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability. 
Through his Flipping the Script on Audio Description series, Reid continues to explore the art by going beyond surface level topics and examining its implications on the community.
As a voice talent and Audio Description Narrator, Reid has appeared on several Netflix projects. He facilitates workshops and provides consultations on various accessibility and audio description related topics. Thomas serves as moderator or panelist for discussions on audio description, inclusion, adjusting to blindness and more. 
A man in a suit with a red tie with white polka dots speaks at a podium with the ReelAbilities Film Festival logo, a wide smile on his face.

Victor Calise

As former Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, Victor Calise has been an advocate for people with disabilities in
both the Bloomberg and de Blasio Administrations and was responsible for ensuring that New York City is the most accessible city in the world.
Teemu Nikki Headshot

Teemu Nikki

Teemu Nikki is a prolific self educated, award-winning filmmaker and son of a pig farmer from Sysmä, Finland. The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic is Nikki’s fifth feature film. He has also directed over 20 short films which have gained recognition at film festivals all around the world and 3 popular tv-series. Together with Jani Pösö, he runs It’s Alive Films, one of the most active production companies in Finland. Nikki’s style is best described as a good-willed yet unapologetic political satire of humanity. He has never seen the movie Titanic.

A man in a wheelchair with a gray beard smiles widely. He wears a blue suit with a read tie and is situated at a distance from a building with white columns.

Nick Libassi

Nick LiBassi is VP for Partnership Expansion. Nick sustained a spinal cord injury in 1996. Since then, he has worked in the disability community in various capacities. His experience working with consumers on the vendor side, as well as his first-hand knowledge regarding advocacy, has allowed him to fully comprehend the unique challenges facing people with SCI/D in all aspects of life.  Nick is currently responsible for Partnership Expansion, chapter development, hospital membership program, as well as other projects that assist the organization in fulfilling its mission. Nick works with members throughout the country to ensure that they have the resources they need in order to be as independent and successful as possible. Nick has over 18 years of broad-based professional business experience, including leading a team at an international executive search firm and 8 years at Johnson & Johnson, and holds a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Business Management. He currently serves as a Committee Member on the Disability Advisory Board with Alaska Airlines and a Community Advisory Board Member for Kessler Institute. Nick is a Township Committee (City Council) Member, and a former Mayor of Rochelle Park, NJ. He always finds time to speak with and mentor individuals with new spinal cord injuries.

A man with a white cap and yellow shirt folds his arms, decorated with tattoos, over each other and gives a light smile.

Nicholas Riini

After 20 years of working in the film industry and living life in the fast paced city, I felt that it was time to move home with my whanau, and take time to work on my own projects. Now living in Whakatane, not far from where my whanau still live, I have started writing stories that interest me, stories that move me, that I hope will move and entertain others. My favorite genre is fantasy, and the ultimate goal is to incorporate fantasy with my Maori culture, and more inclusive characters into my stories.

A black woman with long, curly black hair turns her head to the side and smiles at the camera.

Natasha Ofili

For Natasha Ofili’s breakout role as Principal Karen Vaughn in Ryan Murphy’s critically acclaimed Netflix series The Politician, Oprah Daily singled Natasha out as “a host of newcomers that manage to steal the screen” from the show’s seasoned actors. Her other credits include Amazon Originals’ animated series Undone and the short film Aimee Victoria (selected to screen at 18 film festivals around the country). As Hailey Cooper in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, she was the first Black Deaf woman to play a character in a video game.  Natasha’s milestone for 2021 was acting, producing, and writing a short film largely inspired by her life, The Multi. natashaofili.com IG: natasha_ofili

A woman with short, curly blonde hair rests her arm on a bench. In the background is an open landscape with an ocean, mountain, and the sky in view.

Linda Niccol

Linda Niccol is a writer and director who delivered her first feature film Poppy in 2021 – the realisation of a 10-year ambition to bring the story to the screen. She has previously written and directed four short films (two of which have screened at festivals in New Zealand and internationally) and a range of promotional videos. Her co-written feature film Second-Hand Wedding was a breakout success in New Zealand, making it into the Top 10 New Zealand films at the box office. Linda’s eye (and ear) for detail, visual style and elegance, witty juxtaposition and emotional metaphor is evident in her writing and directing. She has published two collections of short stories and her writing has been broadcast and widely anthologised. Her recent work and focus is on the female protagonist and she is concerned to  encourage audiences to identify with  characters faced with more than the usual challenges in life. 

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

Margaret Bryne

Award-winning filmmaker Margaret Byrne directed and produced ANY GIVEN DAY (2021) and RAISING BERTIE (2017). She is in production on CORRUPTION CAPITAL, a series that follows a former homicide detective and dozens of men that were allegedly framed with murder. She has worked as a cinematographer on over a dozen films including SURGE (2020), GENERATION WEALTH (2018), and AMERICAN PROMISE (2014). She is the founder of Beti Films.

A woman with long blonde hair sits in wheelchair.

Grace Fisher

Grace Fisher, born November 20 1997, is an artist, musician, and composer from Santa Barbara, CA. In 2014 her spine was ravaged by a rare disease, Acute Flaccid Myelitis, leaving her paralyzed from the neck down. She is now pursuing a degree in Music Composition at UCSB and will graduate this June!

Black and white photo of a man on a city sidewalk. He smiles at the camera with a hand held up.

Daniel Klein

Daniel is the founder of the award winning documentary series and production company, The Perennial Plate. He’s made documentary shorts, tv series, and branded content around the world. In producing these 200+ projects, he has learned how to efficiently and creatively research, produce, edit and distribute a wide variety of high quality content.