WORLDEAF Cinema Festival
Gallaudet University, located in Washington, D.C., was the first advanced education school for the hard of hearing in the world, and it continues to set precedents to this day. The latest one is the WORLDEAF Cinema Festival, which was held November 4-7 on campus. The conference honors hard of hearing people in cinema and hearing people who create works that depict deaf people in a realistic and positive light.Marlee Matlin, an Academy Award-winning actress (Children of a Lesser God) who just happens to be deaf, chaired the festival. In her welcome message online, Matlin says that “the WORLDEAF Cinema Festival offers unique opportunities to network with motion picture industry leaders, andparticipate in discussion forums on production, marketing, and distribution issues.” Matlin received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival.However, she’s not the only one who viewers may recognize. On Thursday, there was a panel discussion that included Shoshannah Stern, best known for her role as Bonnie Richmond in Jericho and recurring roles in Weeds and Lie To Me. Russell Harvard was also presenthe played the adult H.W. Plainview in the film There Will Be Blood, and will also be playing deaf wrestler Matt Hamill in an upcoming biopic.Festival attendees also had the chance to view a number of films based around deaf identity, including:I’m Deaf and I Didn’t Know: A young deaf woman struggles to find her identity.Deafhood: The Journey: A film about the power of American Sign Language to connect the deaf with the world.Anna’s Silent Struggle: The story of one of the few deaf survivors of Auschwitz.The Fingerspellers: A comedy about a deaf crime family.Gerald: The story of a man who finds out that he has a deaf autistic grandfather.Music Is Not Everything: An aspiring musician suddenly becomes deaf.For a complete listing of the films that were shown, you can check out the WDCF site, part of the Gallaudet University website.