In a Silent World

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

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.

Nathan Quinell is a fully trained chef… he also happens to be legally deaf and blind. That’s never stopped him from chasing his dreams to become a full-time cook, but now Nathan must prove himself to his peers, his students and potential employers.

This film is a letter to my friend Vincent who died ten years ago. Vincent was Deaf. He introduced me to his language, his culture, his world. Through Vincent ‘s life, the film will examine the roots of the distress that plagues the Deaf, and also explore a rich and fascinating world, a people that struggles to preserve its Sign Language and Culture.

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.

A series of three short films exploring the intersection of opera and American Sign Language, starring some of today’s most acclaimed Deaf and signing performers. Created by Up Until Now Collective.

La surditude

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.

Documentary following Deafinitely Theatre as they translate a classic Shakespeare play for a Deaf audience.

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.

Frida, a deaf girl, shows us La Casa del Sordo through her eyes and hands: a space where deafness ceases to be a barrier and becomes the identity of an entire community.

When I became deaf at the age of 23, I decided to get a cochlear implant. As I began to regain my memories of lost sounds, I asked myself: How does someone who doesn't hear listen?

Sign The Show: Deaf Culture, Access and Entertainment is a feature-length documentary providing insight into Deaf culture and the quest for access to entertainment. It brings together entertainers, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HOH) community, and American Sign Language interpreters to discuss accessibility at live performances in a humorous, heartfelt, and insightful way.

Unseen footage from the British Deaf Association archives is used to tell the story of the Deaf community's fight for civil rights.

A documentary that follows the story of Dario Pasquarella, deaf director and actor, and his company. Through his work, Dario seeks to bring together the deaf and hearing community, who are usually separated by a lack of communication. In his shows he uses both languages, LIS, sign language and spoken language, to tell stories in which the deaf and hearing can live in symbiosis.

Viktor, who was born deaf, worships the figure of the samurai warrior. When bombs start falling on his countryside home in Kharkiv, his quasi-romantic obsession with war is put to the test.

Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky aims her camera at her own life to capture the remarkable transformation of her deaf parents, who decided to undergo a life-changing procedure to restore their hearing after spending 65 years in silence. Chronicling her parents' experiences over their first year of having sound in their lives, Brodsky tells a deeply personal tale that moved viewers to bestow it with the Documentary Audience Award at Sundance 2007.

Young-Chan comes from planet of snail where deaf blind people live slow and quiet lives. When Young-Chan came to Earth, nobody understood his language and he was desperate. Then an angel walked into his life. Soon-Ho knows how it is to be lonely and soon becomes an inseparable part of his life. Young-Chan also discovers an amazing world under his fingers as he learned to read books with braille. Hopes began to grow and he dreams of writing a book. However, Soon-Ho cannot always be there for him because of her own problem of spine disability. The couple now should learn to survive alone. While Soon-Ho uneasily spends her first day waiting for his return, Young-Chan goes out for the biggest adventure of his life.

Told almost entirely without spoken words, this film unfolds in the language of its subjects: Guatemalan Sign Language. In a country where more than 850,000 Deaf people receive little institutional support, silence becomes both a barrier and a form of connection. Through classrooms, homes, and everyday life, the film observes a community building its own means of understanding and belonging. Among those leading the way are Melkin, Dairy, and Jonathan, the teachers, students, and leaders within Guatemalan Deaf Ministries, where the language of hands has become the language of hope.

Deaf artist Seo Hye Lee gives new subtitles to a selection of archive films about pottery, ones which playfully examine the disparity between how people with different levels of hearing experience art.