This is an archived event from Culture Days 2025.
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![AHA! presents the 2nd annual Hamilton Accessible Film Festival. The date is September 20th. The Unbreakable Boy will be shown at 10:00 am with open captioning. Harvey will be shown at 1pm with open captioning. Still Alice will be shown at 4pm with both open captioning and openly described audio. The Sound of Metal will be shown at 7pm with open captioning.]()
Please see our schedule for the 4 films being shown.
Hamilton Accessibility Film Festival
In-person
Film & video History & heritage Youth & teens Deaf & Disability artsDate and time
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Location
The Westdale Theatre
1014 King Street West
Hamilton, ON
Access
Free.
Offered in English.
Wheelchair accessible, has gender-neutral washrooms, offers closed captioning or subtitles, and offers audio description.
About
The Hamilton Accessibility Film Festival (HAFF Time Show) will be held for the second year in a row at the Westdale Theatre in Hamilton, Ontario. This event is organized by a community group, the Accessibility Hamilton Alliance (AHA!). This group is directed by Tim Nolan, the retired Director of Student Accessibility Services at McMaster University.
The HAFF Time Show is a one-day event where four films depicting disabled characters and stories are shown, at no cost to attendees. Additional measures are also made to increase the accessibility of the movie-going experience, including: sensory-friendly lighting, no commercials before screenings (again, to be more sensory-friendly), open captioning, and a minimum of two films with openly-described audio (a limitation that is association with the film industry, not our efforts). The intention with this event is to provide disabled Hamiltonians, visitors, and allies with an inclusive and accessible moving-going experience. Through sharing the accommodations the Westdale theatre uses, we are also able to educate individuals on the ways in which everyday experiences can be made more accessible and enjoyable for disabled individuals.
This year, our event will be held on Saturday, September 20th. While films are still being chosen for the event, the one film that has been decided on is "The Sound of Metal", which follows the experience of a deafened musician.
The HAFF Time Show is part of a greater initiative from AHA! during September, hosting Canada's first Disability History Month. As part of this, we aim to include both older and more recently made films.
Links
- AHA! Website accessibilityhamiltonalliance.com
Organizer
Accessibility Hamilton Alliance
The Accessibility Hamilton Alliance (AHA!) was established in the Fall of 2022 in an effort to gather information from Hamilton municipal election candidates about their understanding and commitment to accessibility. Following the election, AHA! followed up with those elected to begin a dialogue on all matters accessibility. AHA!'s mission is to represent the interest of persons with disabilities, seniors and taxpayers, who may not always be in a place to speak or act on their own behalf, on matters of accessibility. To promote an awareness that full accessibility leads to choice, and that choice leads to self-determination.