A West Grey man with cerebral palsy is putting his acting skills to the test for another year as part of the 2025 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge.
Joschi Shea and his caregiver Steven Morel have produced a 2-minute long feature that meets criteria set by Easterseals.
This year’s film genre of choice was thriller/suspense.
The challenge also suggests certain props that have to be in the entries. This year required a pillow and a framed photo, and a ticking clock – all of which appear in Shea’s film, aptly titled “Pillow: The Thriller”.
When speaking with Bayshore News, Morel and Shea were asked about this different approach taken in this year’s entry to the film they submitted last year, which was a buddy comedy bank heist film.
Interpreting for Shea, Morel said that Shea enjoyed this year’s film more, because of more familiar surroundings and a more personal story.
“We never really had a formal story line as such. We just wanted to see what would happen,” says Morel. “And then one kind of came out through the picture. We sort of borrowed a little bit from The Shining.”
When deciding what kind of approach they were going to take, Shea immediately said that he wanted to act rather than help with directing.
“We talked about that,” says Morel. “I asked him ‘what do you want to do this year?’ and he said ‘Act.’ That’s why it’s a one-man show. One man, and his pillow.”
Morel directed this year’s film, and it was edited by Shea’s father, Geoffrey.
“Because we decided just to do it with only Joschi in the film this year, we kind of left it really open to interpretation.”
The film challenge gives people living with disabilities a chance to get creative, and gives them a chance to win prizes such as computer equipment, grant funding, and mentorship meetings with entertainment executives.
Finalists for each of the Easterseals’ film categories will be announced on a livestream on Sunday, May 4th at 11 am PT (2 pm ET).
Awards are given in six categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Editor, Best Actor, Best Writer, and Awareness Campaign Award.
2025 Winners will receive:
- $2,000 grants to each category winner.
- $5,000 seed fund/film finishing grant provided by Adobe to winners of Best Film, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Actor and Best Editor to further develop the winning short film and/or to accelerate the development of their projects into feature films or episodic series.
- A Dell Technologies computer
- One-year membership to IMDbPro, the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals.
- One-year membership to Film Independent provided by the Golden Globe Foundation.
- Screenings at Academy Award-qualifying festivals, including the Heartland Film Festival and HollyShorts Film Festival.
- Mentorship meetings with entertainment industry executives and talent
