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The Sign for Love

In his heartfelt documentary, co-director and subject Elad Cohen explores the meaning and experience of family. Growing up deaf and gay in a family of hearing people, Cohen never felt at home and always felt alone. That feeling of estrangement was exacerbated during his adolescence by the sudden death of his mother and the subsequent rift with his father as the family scattered in different directions. Cohen creates a sense of family with a small group of friends, including his best friend, Yaeli, a deaf woman. While he wants a child and a life partner, he fears that he won’t find the right man in the small deaf community in his “sweet little country.” Sharing a desire with Yaeli to be parents, the new “couple” decide to have a child in a shared parenting arrangement.

Before it gets dark

Lotte (18) and Roos (16) are sisters and both have Usher syndrome. That means they will soon become deaf and blind. It is not known how fast that will go, but they already see and hear a lot worse than their peers. How do these two high-spirited girls deal with their development into adulthood, while the time bomb of deafness and blindness ticks inexorably? They are not deterred from getting the most out of life: Lotte is studying to become a photographer and Roos is passing her final exams. At the same time, they also want to do a few things before it is too late, such as seeing the Northern Lights with their own eyes. Director Kim Smeekes followed Lotte and Roos for the film for two years.

Elevated

Effective communication is a challenge every climber faces. It’s a sport that requires intense focus, dedication, and overcoming fear. For deaf climber, Sonya Wilson, communication and community is of vital importance. Elevated is a non-verbal film sharing Sonya’s experience as a deaf woman and outdoor advocate working to bridge the gap between the deaf community and the outdoor industry, one crag at a time.

Land of Silence and Darkness

Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since her teens, and her work on behalf of other deaf-blind people, this film shows how the deaf-blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated.

The Way We Move

Amber Galloway, a trailblazer in ASL interpretation, takes us on a journey into the deep bond between the Deaf world and music. We follow her as she teaches struggling recruits who she hopes will have what it takes to join her at ACL music festival.

Ableism in São Paulo

Through intimate stories and day-to-day routines we get a naturalistic glimpse into the lives of individuals with disabilities in the bustling urban landscape of São Paulo. The film captures personal moments and how modern societies confront (or fail to confront) ableism and inclusion.

Listen

Documentary without audio produced by deaf people. Music is depicted visually with the complete absence of musical instruments or voices. Directed by Makihara Eri and choreographer Dakei. With a diverse lineup including ordinary deaf people with zero acting experience and a choreographer who performs in Japan and abroad, this film pulls out all the tops to give visual expression to music through the physical body. An aging man uses multiple sign language poems to convey the four seasons, and a girl expresses the wind amidst the rustling trees.

The Listening Project

The profound impact of technology on the lives and identities of young deaf adults is explored in The Listening Project. Fourteen deaf people tell stories beginning with a childhood wide-eyed about sound, into the growing pains of adolescence and, eventually, their professional lives. Sometimes humorous, always tender, The Listening Project is a timely coming of age story, one we haven't heard before.

Glittering Hands

Despite being deaf Sang-kuk never forgets to smile while he makes furniture. Kyung-hee can't hear either but with her natural beauty and outgoing personality, she enjoys her job at a sign language interpretation center. Between them they have hearing daughter Bora who is a director and a son named Kwang-hee. When, after moving eight times since marriage, Sang-kuk wants to move one more time, Kyung-hee opposes him. In filming the silent world of her parents, the director discovers new stories coming from herself, who grew up moving back and forth between two worlds-one of silence and the other of sound.

Sign of the Times: The Story of New Zealand's Visual Language

Sign of the Times is the first feature length documentary about New Zealand's Deaf community, their language and culture. It is an inspiring, emotional, and very moving story told straight from the very heart of the Deaf community. I n April 2006 New Zealand Parliament declared New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) to be an official language - the culmination of a 20-year battle by the deaf community, and a true hallmark in the recognition of their native language. Sign of the Times is about the Deaf New Zealanders who fought to have their language recognised as a real language and as a viable means of communication The film documents the community's celebration of the official recognition of their language and looks at the community's ongoing hopes and aspirations for their language and culture. This is your invitation to take a journey into the Deaf world.

La surditude

Mother, Father, Deaf

Children of Deaf Adults, known as CODA, are caught in the middle, between the deaf and the hearing, between isolation and community, and between childhood and adulthood. Through the stories of three CODAs, discover how the unique upbringing of hearing children born to deaf parents can be considered both a burden and an opportunity and how it shapes who they are and who they become. Also hear from the parents themselves about how their condition unwittingly puts an impossible weight of responsibility on their children, who are forced into adulthood from the moment they learn to talk. Mother, Father, Deaf offers a previously unseen portrayal of contemporary reality for deaf families. Their stories, while deeply personal, mirror the experiences of CODAs around the world.

What Can You Hear?

Grappling with a genetic hearing loss disorder, a young filmmaker seeks answers for how to cope with her inevitable deafness. To connect with her hearing-impaired family, she embarks on a road trip across the country with her grandma, mother, and sister in search of her great-grandmother’s memorial. Along the drive, the three generations explore their past, present, and future on the road to silence. Directed by Molly Fox Director Molly Fox won Best Director for the film at the Stronger Than Fiction Film Festival, and the film was nominated for Best Documentary at the Texas Short Film Festival.

Breaking Silence

A portrait of a Deaf activist and his formerly incarcerated daughter who build new bonds through their experiences in the criminal justice system.

Being Marcus

Marcus Pabon-Lara loves swimming but is too self-conscious to take off his top in public. Will a mastectomy give him the body confidence needed to go for his first swim since he was a teenager? An honest insight into the experiences of a Deaf trans man, follows self-proclaimed “proud geek” Marcus during the lead up to his much-anticipated operation. Along the way, we meet his friends and his mother, finding out more about Marcus and how he feels about his transition.

Last Year

A group of deaf friends that attend a public school, where they have been classmates since the age of two, live their final year together. As the school year advances they get prepared to confront their biggest fear: attending a school of hearers.