The Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) took to the screens – both live in Arkansas and virtual on computers and TV sets throughout the country – for its ninth year. Chaired by Academy Award winner Geena Davis, BFF champions women and diverse voices. According to festival programmers, “over 30% of the (competition) program is comprised of [click to continue...]
Los Angeles, May 1 – A recent study by NRG and Deaf West Theater shows at least 79% of deaf consumers believe that there has been more representation of their community in TV and film compared to a year ago. One actress contributing to this representation across genres is Shaylee Mansfield. At just 14 years of age, [click to continue...]
Los Angeles, April 28 – A new Annenberg Inclusion Initiative Report examining Netflix’s U.S. original, live-action, fictional series and films is changing the landscape in the entire entertainment industry. This report, which is the second in a series, looks across Netflix films and series in 2020 and 2021 and follows the inaugural collaboration from 2021 [click to continue...]
Los Angeles, March 16 – During Sunday’s Academy Awards, many firsts were celebrated in terms of diversity and inclusion, including disability representation. Best Picture Everything Everywhere All at Once showcases representation of ADHD, while writer/director Daniel Kwan, who also took home an award for directing, has ADHD himself. Best Live Action Short An Irish Goodbye [click to continue...]
Park City, Feb 5 – Feature-length films that premiered at Sundance such as Is There Anybody Out There?, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, and The Tuba Thieves, as well as a number of shorts, explicitly included elements of disability and deafness throughout. However, several additional films featured casual inclusion of disability, which also helps [click to continue...]
Park City, Utah, Jan. 25 – Presented as an interview and told through both archival and scripted elements, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is about owning your narrative, which often is difficult for disabled individuals to do. All too often, society determines the worth of an individual based on preconceived notions. Even when the [click to continue...]
Park City, Jan. 19 – With one-in-five people having a disability in the U.S. today, the lack of representation – just 2.3 percent of characters in the 100 top-grossing films of 2019 and 8 percent in family films – means that millions of people are unable to see themselves reflected in media. The 2023 Sundance Film Festival (January 19 [click to continue...]
After grappling with a lot of diversity, equity, and inclusion issues throughout the past few years, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globes will return to television this Tuesday, January 10, 2023. While the majority of films and television shows do not include any disability inclusion, it is important to note that several disability-inclusive films [click to continue...]
Throughout the month of October 2022, join RespectAbility for a virtual celebration including panel conversations and networking opportunities as we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Please note that some sessions are open only to entertainment industry creatives who identify as deaf or disabled, as we seek to continue to build community. ASL Interpretation and [click to continue...]
Los Angeles, Aug. 15 – To continue to ensure accessibility for disabled entertainment professionals, the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab will host a virtual cohort this year, building on the success of a virtual format begun during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighteen individuals and one writing duo, from the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Australia, will participate in [click to continue...]
