This is a list of films that reflect the criteria of the Deaf cinema movement: written, produced or directed by deaf people [1] [2] [3] with leading deaf actors. [4] [5] [6] [7] All these works have a tendency to nurture and develop the culture's self image and to reflect correctly the core of the Deaf culture and language. [8]
Film | Year | Description |
---|---|---|
A Silent Agreement | 2017 | The Australian romantic drama features an LGBT couple, a profoundly deaf human rights activist and his filmmaker boyfriend with a speech impediment, as their intellectual property is stolen by a film industry mentor. This was the first film to feature Auslan in its main dialogue. Some scenes are entirely in Auslan. Deaf actors Joshua Sealy, Luke Watts and Matthew Archibald appear in this film. [9] |
Sign Gene: The First Deaf Superheroes | 2017 | The Italian and American superhero film features Deaf superheroes that can create superhuman powers through the use of Sign language. The story centres on a Deaf agent from New York City carrier of a powerful genetic mutation sent to Japan with his colleague to investigate the various intriguing crimes committed by Japanese Deaf mutants. Written, produced and directed by and with Deaf people (played by Deaf actors, Emilio Insolera, Ben Bahan, Carola Insolera) [10] |
The Tribe | 2014 | A deaf boy joins a boarding school for similar children. Confronted by the violent and criminal antics of some of the other boys and girls, he struggles to conform and join the 'tribe'. There are no speaking roles. All dialog is presented in Ukrainian sign language. |
Lake Windfall | 2013 | The American independent film features five friends, three deaf, who go on a camping trip that becomes a disaster. [11] |
No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie | 2013 | The American independent comedy-drama film features a Deaf actor who plays a superhero on a TV show. He meets a Deaf boy and works to inspire him. [12] |
Universal Signs | 2008 | The American drama film features a deaf artist who blames himself for the death of his fiancée's daughter and struggles to recover. [13] |
Country of the Deaf | 1998 | The Russian film features two women, one who is a deaf-mute dancer and one who is fleeing from the mafia. [14] |
Think Me Nothing | 1975 | ref. |
Deafula | 1975 | The horror film about a Deaf vampire is the first full-length feature film made in American Sign Language. [15] [16] |
Film | Year | Description |
---|---|---|
See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary | 2009 | The American documentary film explores the careers of four deaf entertainers: standup comic CJ Jones, actor Robert DeMayo whose HIV-positive status impacts him, drummer Bob Hiltermann of the all-deaf band Beethoven's Nightmare, and singer and actress TL Forsberg. [17] |
Sound and Fury | 2000 | The American documentary film features two brothers, one deaf and one hearing, with their families. The deaf brother has a deaf wife and a deaf daughter. While he opposes cochlear implants, his daughter wants one. The hearing brother has a hearing wife, and the couple have a deaf baby for whom they explore the option of cochlear implants. The film explores the relationship between the culturally deaf community and cochlear implants. One of the four producers is deaf. [18] [19] |
Johnny Belinda is a 1948 American drama film, directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the 1940 Broadway stage hit of the same name by Elmer Blaney Harris. The play was adapted for the screen by writers Allen Vincent and Irma von Cube.
Children of a Lesser God is a 1986 American romantic drama film directed by Randa Haines from a screenplay written by Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff and based on Medoff's 1979 play. The film stars William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Piper Laurie, and Philip Bosco. The film's narrative follows two employees at a school for the deaf: a Deaf custodian and a hearing speech teacher, whose conflicting ideologies on speech and deafness create tension and discord in their developing romantic relationship.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2023).
Linda Larkin is an American actress, best known for her role as the speaking voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin.
Sound and Fury is a documentary film released in 2000 about two American families with young deaf children and their conflict over whether or not to give their children cochlear implants, surgically implanted devices that may improve their ability to hear but may threaten their Deaf identity.
Deaf cinema is a movement that includes all works produced and directed by deaf people or members of the deaf community and is led by deaf actors. All these works have a tendency to nurture and develop the culture's self image and to reflect correctly the core of the Deaf culture and language.
Infinitum Nihil is an American film production company, founded by Johnny Depp. The company is run by Depp's sister Christi Dembrowski. Depp founded the company in 2004 to develop projects where he will serve as actor and/or producer. The name means "Nothing infinite" in Latin.
Switched at Birth is an American teen and family drama television series that premiered on ABC Family on June 6, 2011. The one-hour scripted drama is set in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and revolves around two teenagers who were switched at birth and grew up in very different environments: one in an affluent suburb, and the other in a working-class neighborhood. According to ABC Family, it is "the first mainstream television series to have multiple deaf and hard-of-hearing series regulars and scenes shot entirely in American Sign Language (ASL)".
Quentin Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer who has directed ten films. He first began his career in the 1980s by directing and writing Love Birds In Bondage and writing, directing and starring in the black-and-white My Best Friend's Birthday, an amateur short film which was never officially released. He impersonated musician Elvis Presley in a small role in the sitcom The Golden Girls (1988), and briefly appeared in Eddie Presley (1992). As an independent filmmaker, he directed, wrote, and appeared in the violent crime thriller Reservoir Dogs (1992), which tells the story of six strangers brought together for a jewelry heist. Proving to be Tarantino's breakthrough film, it was named the greatest independent film of all time by Empire. Tarantino's screenplay for Tony Scott's True Romance (1993) was nominated for a Saturn Award. Also in 1993, he served as an executive producer for Killing Zoe and wrote two other films.
GKIDS is an American film and television distributor based in New York City. GKIDS releases mostly international animated films and television series to North American audiences, as well as American films by independent filmmakers. The name is said to be an acronym for "Guerrilla Kids International Distribution Syndicate".
Cross Creek Pictures is an American film production company founded in 2009 by Timmy Thompson and Tyler Thompson. Its first production was the acclaimed Black Swan (2010), which was followed by The Ides of March (2011), The Woman in Black (2012) and Rush (2013).
La Famille Bélier is a 2014 French-Belgian coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Éric Lartigau. The film received six nominations at the 40th César Awards, winning Most Promising Actress for Louane Emera. It won a Magritte Award in the category of Best Foreign Film.
The Parts You Lose is a 2019 American thriller film starring Aaron Paul and Danny Murphy as a fugitive criminal and a deaf boy who befriend one another. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Scoot McNairy also star as the boy's parents. The film is directed by Christopher Cantwell based on a screenplay by Darren Lemke. The H Collective financed Gran Via's production of the film. Filming took place in Winnipeg, Canada. The Parts You Lose had its world premiere on March 14, 2019 at the 2019 Sun Valley Film Festival in Sun Valley, Idaho. Samuel Goldwyn Films released the film commercially in the United States on October 4, 2019.
The Silent Child is a British sign language short film written by and starring Rachel Shenton and directed by her own husband Chris Overton, and released in 2017 by Slick Films. It tells the story of Libby, a profoundly deaf six-year-old girl, who lives a silent life until a social worker, played by Shenton, teaches her how to communicate through sign language. The film won the Oscar for Live Action Short Film at the 90th Academy Awards. The film's television debut was on BBC One to an audience of 3.6 million, the film then received an extended period on BBC iPlayer.
John Stanley Schuchman was an American educator and academic administrator who taught at Gallaudet University.
The Silence is a 2019 horror film directed by John R. Leonetti and starring Kiernan Shipka, Stanley Tucci, Miranda Otto, and John Corbett. The screenplay by Carey and Shane Van Dyke adapts the 2015 horror novel of the same name by Tim Lebbon. The film depicts a world under attack by creatures who hunt by sound. Shipka plays a deaf teenager who seeks shelter with her family, and a cult tries to take advantage of her fertility.
CODA is a 2021 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Sian Heder. An English-language remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film La Famille Bélier, it stars Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi, the child of deaf adults (CODA) and only hearing member of her family, who attempts to help her family's struggling fishing business while pursuing her aspirations to become a singer.
Red Hollywood is a 1996 American documentary film by film essayists Thom Andersen and Noël Burch about the films made by the blacklisted writers and directors during the 1930s-1950s.