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Easterseals Disability Film Challenge winners announced

Rain In My Head wins Best Film

by Jennie Kermode

The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge finalists Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

Chrissy Marshall's Rain In My Head was the big winner in this year's Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, winning the Best Film award along with two others. The 10th annual event of its kind, the challenge aims to create opportunities for disabled people to break into an industry where they are at present poorly represented. The 115 entrants hailed from all over the world, including Austria, Bolivia, Canada, England, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Timor-Leste and The Netherlands.

The winning team: Sebastian Gonzalez, Sophia Morales, Christine Marshall, Layne Apffel and Camilo Godoy Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

This year's event was themed around romance, a genre from which disabled people are almost entirely absent unless in the process of dying tragically. In the US, as in the UK, one in every four people has a disability, yet according to a Nielsen study released in 2022, about 95% of characters with disabilities in Hollywood’s top TV shows are played by non-disabled actors and, during the 2019 Oscars — a year when disability inclusion was reported at its highest to date — only two of the 61 nominees and 27 winners who played disabled characters were actually disabled.

"Hollywood has only begun to tap into the power of inclusion and to showcase this significant segment of our society," said Mark Whitley, President and CEO of Easterseals Southern California. "The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge gives filmmakers, actors and their crews invaluable entertainment experience and a chance to network with industry professionals. Likewise, it’s an opportunity for studios, networks, guilds, talent agencies and people working in entertainment to get involved to change the way we all experience and understand disability."

"I created the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge to help accelerate change within Hollywood and to provide filmmakers and actors with tangible work experience and with an opportunity to tell authentic stories," said actor, comedian, producer and disability advocate Nic Novicki. "Once again, I am humbled by the overwhelming response. We are proud of the amazing films produced this year and over the past 10 years—which have been viewed around the world—and the successes our participants have gone on to achieve."

Those award winners in full:

Best Film

Kryptonite – Penni Wilson
Winner: Rain In My Head – Chrissy Marshall
Smash Or Pass – Cory Reeder
Unlucky In Love – Rachel Handler

Best Director

Winner: Rain In My Head – Chrissy Marshall
Smash Or Pass – Cory Reeder
To Be Loved By Elliott – Samantha Bartow & Carmen Flood
Unlucky In Love – Catriona Rubenis-Stevens

Best Actor

A Stupid Man – Shannon Devido
Kryptonite – Ryan Lane
Winner: Rain In My Head – Layne Apffel
Smash Or Pass – Joci Scott

Best Editor

Rain In My Head – Mario Fierro
Reverie – Chase Chambers
Winner: Smash Or Pass – Nathan Cox
Unlucky In Love – Crystal Arnette

Best Writer

Kryptonite – Joshua Friedman, Penni Wilson, Cameron S. Mitchell & David S. Zimmerman
Rain In My Head – Chrissy Marshall
Say What?! – Sarah Beth Budd, Grant Cleaveland, & Lee Cleaveland
Winner: Unlucky In Love – Rachel Handler

Best Awareness Campaign