Today we're kicking off our first ever Summer Screening Series on our Easterseals Disability Film Challenge Facebook page! Starting from this first day of summer, we'll be bringing you a new film each day from the 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, all summer long. Help us share all of these amazing films with the world, [...]
Everyone loves a good story, and the story starts with you. You can change the way the world defines and views disability just by including more people with disability on screen. A recent USC study noted that of the top 900 films between 2007 and 2016, just 2.7% of characters were portrayed as having a disability. And yet, [...]
Special Guests Include Marcia Gay Harden, Shoshannah Stern + Kurt Yaeger BEVERLY HILLS — May 11, 2018 — Winners of the fifth annual Easterseals Disability Film Challenge were announced last night at a star-studded red-carpet event, film screening and awards ceremony hosted by leading global talent and entertainment company United Talent Agency (UTA) in Beverly Hills. [...]
The finalists of the 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge were announced and screened at a live event earlier today at the Bentonville Film Festival. The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge gives filmmakers — with and without disabilities — the opportunity to collaborate to tell unique stories that showcase disability in its many forms. Held April 13-15, [...]
The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is proud to announce the 2018 finalists. With the most participants ever, the 2018 film challenge proved to be the toughest competition yet. We are so excited to see this growth as we celebrate our fifth year! Awards are presented in four categories: Best Awareness Campaign, Best Actor, Best Filmmaker [...]
The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is proud to announce that the winner of the 2018 Best Filmmaker award will receive a mentorship session with Bec Smith, an Agent in United Talent Agency's (UTA) Motion Picture Literary and Independent Film Group. Bec Smith is an agent at United Talent Agency representing screen writers and directors. Her clients [...]
Genre: Buddy Comedy The films entered into the 2018 challenge must be in the genre of buddy comedy. Some examples include: "Pitch Perfect", "The Heat", "The Hang Over", "Turner and Hooch", "White Men Can't Jump", "Superbad", "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion", "Sideways", "The Trip", "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", "Hot Fuzz", "Men [...]
This year, for the first time, we are providing filmmakers with advance notice of the Settings and Themes you can choose from to make your film. We hope this information will help you jump start the filmmaking process! As a reminder, the rest of the assignment - the genre, story elements and props - will [...]
We are excited to announce our partnership with the Bentonville Film Festival! ‘BFF’ was co-founded by Academy Award Winning actor Geena Davis; also founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. BFF’s Mission is to champion inclusion in all forms of media by providing a platform to connect diverse storytellers with entertainment industry [...]
Thank you, Variety for supporting the 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge! Variety has been at the forefront of breaking critical news stories about diversity, inclusion and discrimination in Hollywood and we are thrilled to have their support. This year, all of our finalists will receive a one-year subscription to Variety Magazine! In 2017, Easterseals Disability [...]