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The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge announced the winners of its 2025 edition with an annual orange carpet and awards ceremony on Thursday at Sony Pictures Studios. During the Film Challenge, entrants are given a span of five days over the designated timeframe to write and produce 1-5 minute short films, which promote disability inclusion in front of and behind the camera.

“I created the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge to help accelerate change and to put a spotlight on talented filmmakers and actors, providing them with an opportunity to showcase their work and be seen,” said Edfc founder Nic Novicki. “We are proud of the amazing films created over the past 12 years and I am grateful that the Challenge has enabled many of our participants to go on to such prominent success, most recently Nik Sanchez who landed a role in ‘The Accountant 2’ based on his participation in last year’s competition.

The winners of the 12th Annual Easterseals Disability Film Challenge Awards were announced Thursday night at the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City.

Designed to promote and encourage more film and television works by artists with disabilities, this year’s Easterseals challenge tasked filmmakers with creating short films one-to-five minutes in length that exist within the thriller and suspense genres. As usual, challenge participants had just five days to craft their shorts. The cast and crew of each film had to consist of volunteers, and at least one person with a physical or cognitive disability was encouraged to be involved in the making of each short in an on-camera or behind-the-scenes capacity.

Of the 123 shorts that were submitted this year, just five ultimately took home the challenge’s top awards. In addition to host, actor and Easterseals founder Nic Novicki, Thursday night’s event was attended by Peter Farrelly...

Exclusive: Music Box Films has acquired North American distribution rights to director Shane D. Stanger’s Good Bad Things, starring Jessica Parker Kennedy (The Flash), Brett Dier (Jane The Virgin) and Danny Kurtzman.

The film, which will be released on digital platforms on February 4, 2025, was programmed in the Slamdance Unstoppable section, the showcase of films made by filmmakers with visible and non-visible disabilities.

Good Bad Things was awarded both the Slamdance Unstoppable Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award and screened as the closing night film of the ReelAbilities film festival.

Co-written by lifelong friends Shane D. Stanger and Danny Kurtzman, the romantic comedy is about a young man with a physical disability, learning to be vulnerable by exploring new connections on a dating app, a story loosely inspired by co-writer and star Kurtzman’s life, living with muscular dystrophy.

The film was released theatrically in partnership with Suncatcher Productions,...

Shane D. Stanger makes his directorial debut with the 2024 film Good Bad Things, starring Danny Kurtzman in the leading role. Kurtzman plays Danny, a graphic designer living in Los Angeles with muscular dystrophy. He co-owns a small marketing firm with best friend and roommate Jason, played by Brett Dier. Their business is struggling financially, so they hope to land a big client by rebranding a popular dating app called Rubi.

At Jason’s urging, Danny reluctantly creates a profile on Rubi to better understand the service, though he’s skeptical anyone will match with him given his disability. To his surprise, he connects with Madi, a photographer portrayed by Jessica Parker Kennedy. As they start dating, Danny discovers new depths of courage by embracing vulnerability in his personal and professional lives.

Good Bad Things promises an intimate story exploring universal themes through Danny’s lived experiences. With Stanger and Kurtzman’s close collaboration,...

Ramy star Steve Way has boarded 2024 Slamdance Film Festival selection Good Bad Things as an executive producer.

The upcoming indie, which will hold its world premiere at the Utah-based fest, hails from first-time director Shane D. Stanger, who co-wrote the feature with longtime friend and star Danny Kurtzman. The movie, which also stars Brett Dier (Jane the Virgin), Jessica Parker Kennedy (Black Sails), and Timothy Granaderos (13 Reasons Why), is inspired by Kurtzman’s own experiences, and follows his character, Danny, an ingenious entrepreneur with physical disabilities.

When he and his lifelong friend and business partner Jason (Dier) face losing their agency, they must team to win over a new client, a highly sought-after dating app. That puts Danny on the path of Madi (Parker), a photographer he meets through the dating platform. It’s a relationship that sparks a journey of transformation, self-acceptance and discovery for Danny, about himself...