The 2026 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is open for registration with the competition to be held March 24-29. The awards ceremony will be held May 7 at Sony Pictures Studios.
With a featured genre of “Dramedy” this year, the 13th annual Film Challenge was announced at the recent Sundance Film Festival and in Variety, a leading trade publication for the entertainment industry.
Since the Film Challenge premiered in 2013, aspiring filmmakers have created and submitted more than 850 short films from nearly every state and from around the globe, including submissions from as far away as Egypt, Finland, India and Singapore.
How it Works?
During the Film Challenge, all registered filmmakers are given a designated span of five days to write and produce short films (one-to-five minutes), based on the year’s announced genre, which promote disability inclusion.
Submitted films are judged in six award categories:
- Best Film
- Best Director
- Best Actor
- Best Writer
- Best Editor
- Best Awareness Campaign
Winners receive invaluable access to entertainment leaders and resources, opening the door to an industry notoriously difficult to enter and a variety of prizes to help them achieve their career goals, including:
- $2,000 cash prize awards to each winner
- Dell Technologies computer
- One-year premium membership to IMDbPro, the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals
- Screenings at Academy Award-qualifying festivals
- Mentorship meetings with notable entertainment industry executives and talent
Disability Representation in Entertainment
According to the CDC, 25% of U.S. residents, more than 70 million people, have a disability, making it today’s largest minority population, yet …
- A study released by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the number of speaking characters with a disability in a major film was just 1.9% in 2022.
- GLAAD also published a report in 2022 which found that only 2.8% of series regulars on primetime broadcast TV (22 of 775) were characters with disabilities.
- Per the most recent Ruderman Family Foundation study, about 95% of characters with disabilities in Hollywood’s top films and TV shows are played by able-bodied actors.
Making Progress
“Disability inclusion cannot be an afterthought,” said actor, comedian, producer and disability advocate Nic Novicki, a little person who is a board member of Easterseals Southern California and founder and director of the Film Challenge. “True progress in the entertainment industry means ensuring that people with disabilities are part of the conversation at every level. The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge exists to do exactly that.
“Thanks to sustained industry support, we have been able to elevate new voices, launch remarkable talent, offer year-round learning opportunities and help filmmakers from around the world achieve meaningful success on both sides of the camera,” continued Novicki, who voiced Lego Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation’s award-winning film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and will be seen in two upcoming studio features to be announced soon. “We’re proud to serve as a trusted resource for Hollywood.”
Previous Film Challenge winners and participants have gone on to land roles or direct segments of major features films and top TV shows and gone on to win prestigious awards, accolades and grants.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is made possible by generous support from: Adobe Foundation, Amazon MGM Studios, Dell Technologies, Golden Globe Foundation, IMDbPro, Intel, Comcast NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Walt Disney Studios.
