WHAT? is a black and white, silent (and signing) comedy about a struggling deaf actor, sick of agreeing to increasingly humiliating tasks just to get a role, who decides to take matters into his own hands.
Raina, once the only Deaf and Disabled person in her film school, reconnects with her ex-boyfriend and former college Teaching Assistant, Sebastian, and soon it becomes clear the ways in which ableism had a hand in their relationship’s trajectory. Writer/Director Darian Slattery shines as Raina in this unique story that challenges expectations surrounding disability representation with humor and insight.
A young deaf couple named Stanley and Sarah take to a cabin so Stanley can write his second novel. Sarah goes with him to try and save the marriage. When they arrive, a series of strange events begin to unfold.
Three different storylines are skillfully woven together offering three unique perspectives on the Deaf experience: a young Deaf woman struggles to connect with her hearing boyfriend; a Deaf man has an argument with his mother, complicated by an interpreter who wants to take sides; and a Deaf woman encounters barriers during a job interview despite her excellent qualifications. This nuanced film based on real-life experiences challenges viewers to think and engage in meaningful discussion.
Through visual metaphors and circumstantial installations, Chella Man explores his cyborg identity and personal relationship to the freedom and constraints cochlear implants created.
A Deaf woman scientist is experimenting with quantum physics in her lab on New Year’s Eve 1987. When she discovers a portal through time and space, she decides to use her scientific powers in unexpected ways. This funny and unique story from filmmaker Paul Sprangers is a delightful surprise.
Following the loss of his fiancé, Jason struggles to process his haunted emotions. This touching drama takes a creative approach to remind us that grief is different for everyone and that real love is never forgotten.
In American Sign Language (ASL) with subtitles available in English, Spanish and Canadian French. This powerful documentary uses real life experiences from Deaf people of varied social, racial, and educational boundaries showing how this form of oppression does lasting and harmful damage. Bonus materials include directors' comments from Ben Bahan and H-Dirksen Bauman and additional scences. Teachers: This film is a wonderful tool for beginning ASL students, as an introduction to a side of Deaf culture that cannot be found in any textbook.
The power of fostering animals in need is undeniable. Hopalong Animal Rescue, based in Oakland, CA, demonstrates this every day. This short film chronicles Tina Quon and Gary Moore, a couple who have dedicated their life together to fostering dogs in need of forever homes. Their pit bull, Nulo, plays a pivotal role, teaching young puppies how to grow into well-behaved, loving adult dogs. Together, they have fostered over 60 dogs – and counting. This documentary shows the ways in which Tina, Gary, and Nulo – along with Hopalong's larger network of over 600 foster homes throughout the Bay Area – have touched so many lives in profound and deeply moving ways.
DEAF IDENTITY explores the diverse and nuanced experiences of Deafness through a series of enlightening conversations with Deaf people who have embraced their own unique identities.
A spate of robberies in Southern California schools had an oddly specific target: tubas. In this work of creative nonfiction, d/Deaf first-time feature director Alison O’Daniel presents the impact of these crimes from an unexpected angle. The film unfolds mimicking a game of telephone, where sound’s feeble transmissibility is proven as the story bends and weaves to human interpretation and miscommunication. The result is a stunning contribution to cinematic language. O’Daniel has developed a syntax of deafness that offers a complex, overlaid, surprising new texture, which offers a dimensional experience of deafness and reorients the audience auditorily in an unfamiliar and exhilarating way.
After a horrific encounter with a stranger, two friends, one blind and other deaf, use their senses to defend themselves from a robbery gone.
It’s the first day of class, and a snarky young Deaf woman and her assigned interpreter must deal with a well-meaning but ignorant teacher. This well-crafted funny short brings laughs to an all-too-common situation.
A Deafblind fencer and author competes in all arenas just for the right to be seen.
In this engaging documentary, filmmaker MJ Kiego interviews Deaf parents of CODA children, who describe their feelings towards dealing with the barriers between the Deaf and hearing worlds while trying to parent. This unique and often underrepresented perspective on the CODA experience is both enlightening and refreshing.
When a Deaf hitman goes to kill his Deaf target, the two get caught up in an argument over what should constitute appropriate last words, as the evening becomes increasingly absurd.
A man, who is known only as “Number 79,” takes part in an experimental drug trial. While under the influence of the mysterious new drug, Number 79 embarks on an experience that he will not soon forget.
George Veditz, one-time president of the National Association of the Deaf of the United States, outlines the right of deaf people to sign instead of speak. The film is presented in American Sign Language and has no sub- or intertitles.
Dress rehearsal for the annual show runs smoothly until a disgruntled deaf girl named Meghan storms into the cafe pursued by her frustrated and furious hearing father, Jim. Meghan has just learned that, instead of spending time with her similarly deaf friends in Indianapolis, she and her family are all going to Colorado for Christmas vacation! But no one there is deaf, and she feels left out. Carlo, Mark and Rebecca offer some valuable and timely advice that results in an unusual and heartwarming Christmas gift.
The end of every relationship has a beginning. When Shelby and Mason get to the beach they realize that neither of them brought sunscreen. Who's to blame? - This film observes how accountability is handled in a crumbling relationship.