Spencer MacKay

Spencer MacKay is a Halifax-based independent filmmaker, stand-up comedian and activist for people living with disabilities. Born in Amherst, Nova Scotia on July 9th 1997, Spencer was immediately airlifted from the hospital in Amherst to the IWK Children’s Hospital for breathing complications that were so troublesome, the doctors didn’t think he would even survive the flight. Once safe at the IWK Children’s Hospital, Spencer was given an initial life expectancy of just three months, which thanks to the many doctors and nurses at the IWK, Spencer eventually surpassed. Spencer then went on to spend the first twenty-one months of his life in intensive care (the first eighteen months consistently living in the hospital then a three week trip home before returning to the hospital for an additional three months), wherein he never learned how to walk and now uses a motorized wheelchair to get around. Throughout his childhood, once he became healthier, he became a fixture on the IWK Telethon each year and at IWK Foundation fundraising events wherein he shared his story in the hopes of inspiring others to donate to the children’s hospital, and in the hopes of inspiring other children that were still in the hospital fighting for their own lives.
Spencer started working in the arts industry back in 2018 after graduating the Screen Arts program at NSCC in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. During the last six months that he was in school, he wrote, produced and directed his first short film, Same Nightmare, which ended up touring the festival circuit for the latter half of 2018 before appearing at the ReelAbilities Toronto Film Festival in May of 2019. During its run on the festival circuit, the film picked up awards at some of those festivals and garnered attention in the media for its depiction of growing up in high school as a person living with a disability. In addition to Same Nightmare, he’s also written, directed and produced several other short films including a short documentary that premiered at the 2018 JFL42 festival in Toronto, as well as several films that were made as a part of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, Scouter Joe and Interabled - Flakin’ Around with Matt Flake.