Sydney Jean Satalino

A blue gradient background with white text has “The D-30 Disability Impact List” at the top centered above “2024 Honoree” which is in between two laurels. Below, text “Sydney Jean Satalino (she/her), USA” is to the left of a picture of Sydney, which fills the right. Sydney is a light-skinned woman with short dark hair wearing a white t-shirt and glasses. They are posing with a television cut prompter. At the bottom left corner is text “Diversability, #D30DisList”.

Sydney Jean Satalino

She/her/hers

Filmmaker

USA

Sydney Jean Satalino is a filmmaker who has been active in the industry since she was 9 years old, with her first credit being a music video directed by Michael Jackson’s former vocal coach. At the age of 11, she won her first film festival award, and in 2020, she released an American Girl doll stopmotion entitled Rebelle, with a neurodivergent and mentally disabled lead character. In early 2022, the Rebelle concept went viral on TikTok promoting the creation of an expanded live-action movie, with continued success on the platform and on Instagram throughout 2023 and 2024, where her videos have reached a combined total of 60 million viewers and over 260,000 followers. She is currently writing a novel based on her Rebelle screenplay in hopes of getting a movie deal. Her work has benefitted the disability community by providing representation for people that often don’t get positive representation in media, and by providing an actually autistic voice in the world of film.