This year’s Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) will feature some new equipment.
Executive Director and and Chief Programmer Vincent Georgie says WIFF is adding accessibility equipment to the Kelly Theatre at the Capitol Theatre.
He says the festival was able to add the equipment thanks to an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant worth more than $60,000.
Georgie says audio description and closed captioning will be available for 15 films during the festival.
He says the equipment includes new headsets and monitors.
“You can get a headset free of charge, or there’s a little monitor you can attach to the armrest on your chair so that way if you need some audio description because your sight is not as strong as it maybe once was, or perhaps if you need closed captioning to understand what’s going on because your hearing is not as strong, that way you get that free of charge,” he says.
Georgie says he’s been working on bringing the equipment to WIFF for roughly a year.
He says they heard from the audience over the past couple of years, and they asked for hearing and seeing support.
“We said ok, let’s figure out a plan here, and we have been putting this together for about a year now,” he says. “So happy to reveal it now, and there are 15 different films at the festival where you’ll be able to use this equipment if you’d like.”
Georgie says without the festival, it would be almost impossible for WIFF to provide the equipment.
“That’s why we’re so, so grateful to receive that grant and that support and knowing that it was meaningful that people saw value in this,” says Georgie. “I mean, this is a really great way to make the festival generally more accessible and easier for people to participate.”
There will be 22 new accessibility devices available at the box office.
WIFF volunteers will help with the setup.
The festival kicks off on Thursday, October 29, and runs until Sunday, November 8, 2026.