Speechless

Fifty years ago, Tim McDermit fell 40 feet from his college dorm roof. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder which left him unable to speak. Though 2 million others in the U.S. suffer from aphasia, few have even heard of it. Over the past five decades, Tim has struggled with relearning how to communicate all over again, navigating the social stigmas that come with broken speech, and finally letting go of the life that was snatched away from him.

The story of Dujuan, a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy living in Alice Springs, Australia, who is struggling to balance his traditional Arrernte/Garrwa upbringing with a state education.

After suffering a life-threatening stroke four years ago, the broadcaster and political journalist Andrew Marr quickly regained his ability to speak and was able to resume work. But he is still frustrated by lack of movement in his left arm, hand and leg. In this very intimate story, Andrew is on a mission to understand the mysteries of the human brain and to achieve further recovery. He meets some of Britain's million plus stroke survivors and travels the world in search of a miracle cure.

In southern Carinthia, about ninety percent of all inhabitants spoke Slovenian before 1910. Today it is on average a single digit percentage. In this very personal essay documentary, Andrina Mračnikar formulates a political urgency: What happens when one's mother tongue is taken away in everyday life. What must politicians do to counteract the disappearance of a language whose protection is enshrined in the Austrian constitution.

This film, directed by Dominique GAUTIER, takes the viewer on a worldwide excursion into the history and structure of the Esperanto language, introducing its present-day speakers. The words of these users of the language are reflective of a variety of activities and viewpoints, and in the film they are interwoven so as to reveal bit by bit how the utopia of its initiator, Ludwig ZAMENHOF, is concretised every day.

Plena Rondo

An exploration of the history of the word throughout its inception to present day. Woven into the narrative are poetry, music, and commentary from celebrities about their personal experiences with the word and their viewpoints. Each perspective is unique, as is each experience... some are much more comfortable with the word than others.

This short focuses on Patricia Neal's return to motion pictures three years after she suffered a near-fatal stroke. We see her and the cast and crew at work in New York City on the feature film The Subject Was Roses (1968).

In July 2016, Josée Boudreault had a stroke that turned her life upside down. This documentary follows her as she tries to regain her motor and verbal functions, tirelessly supported by her spouse Louis-Philippe Rivard. This touching story is foremost about the love that binds this unbreakable couple, despite the challenges of illness.

Who are the people behind the international anti-Covid-vaccine movement and why are they doing it? This journey inside the astonishing world of the anti-vaxxers finds out.

A deafblind Danish woman travels to Nepal to meet a woman with the same condition in the hopes of communicating and engaging in a cultural exchange. A Woman Like Me is a remarkable demonstration of the delicacy and complexity of human communication, and how susceptible it is to privilege, preconceptions and misunderstandings.

This Is Not About Me tells the story of Jordyn Zimmerman. Jordyn dreamt of becoming a teacher. She started out eager to learn at school, but she was soon separated from the other children. Unable to communicate, teachers thought she was also unable to understand or learn. Year after year, her behavior worsened. She was restrained and placed in seclusion. Jordyn found herself caught in a system that unintentionally turned her life into a living nightmare. Finally, at the age of 18, with the help of educators who see her differently, she manages to turn her fate and flourish.

The Universal Language is a new documentary from Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground). This 30-minute film traces the history of Esperanto, an artificial language that was created in the late 1800s by a Polish eye doctor who believed that if everyone in the world spoke a common tongue, humanity could overcome racism and war. Fittingly, the word “Esperanto” means “one who hopes.” During the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of people around the world spoke Esperanto and believed in its ideals. Today, surprisingly, a vibrant Esperanto movement still exists. In this first-ever documentary about Esperanto, Green creates a portrait of the language and those who speak it today that is at once humorous, poignant, stirring, and ultimately hopeful.

After his mother suffers a stroke, Ben Hardin returns to his rural hometown to care for her and complete his most recent book. While home, his relationships with family and friends are strained and tested.

An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.

A single mother suffers a devastating stroke leaving her teenage daughter and 7-year-old son to care for her, testing the family's strength to hold things together as their roles are reversed.

When Cassie's father finds himself vulnerable and bedridden, she believes she has the perfect revenge for her mother's death.

Genius artist Cesar Catilina seeks to leap the City of New Rome into a utopian, idealistic future, while his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.

A young farmer in rural Yorkshire numbs his daily frustrations with binge drinking and casual sex, until the arrival of a Romanian migrant worker.

From A for accent to Z for zero - everything you wanted to know about the English language.