Films in ASL & other Sign Languages
On this page:
- Full length films in ASL
- Other works (poetry and selected short films and documentaries)
- Films in English with some ASL
- Films in other sign languages (Australian, Brazilian, British,
Chinese, Dutch, German, Finnish, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, South
African/Swazi, Russian)
- Miscellaneous ASL film resources
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It is surprisingly hard to find movies and videos in American
Sign Language. I've tried to bring together a list of all the feature-length
ASL films I can find, with a selection of short films and films in other Deaf
sign languages. Enjoy. :)
Please consider this page a collaboration: send
me comments, additions,
or corrections anytime.
(deafmovies (@) johnlubotsky (.) com)
Full-length films in ASL:
- See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary (Hilari Scarl, 2008)
- Wrong Game (MGW Productions,
2007?)
- "The A Word" - "a Deaf version of 'The L Word.' 10
women with different stories, whether it be sad, funny, serious or romantic,
that are sure to bring laughter and tears. Film signed in ASL only."
- Forget Me Not (MGW Productions,
2006)
- Universal Signs (pre-production,
2006) "a modern silent film ... captioned for the hearing"
- Soda Stories (in open development, and accepting
submissions) "a commentary
about how it is for people with Deaf siblings."
- Austin Unbound (currently
in production) "a rite of passage documentary
about a Deaf female to male transsexual"
- Dr. Hand (Gary Brooks,
2005) a fantasy/adventure from Blue Apple Productions
- Pinky Tells
the Real Story (Pinky Aiello, 2005) Comedy and the inside scoop
about videophone & Video
Relay Service
- Nathie:
No Hand-Me Downs (2004) Full-length documentary about Nathie Marbury,
comedian and storyteller.
- Passion of Words Turning Into Action (Jade Films, 2004)
- Guy Wonder: Stories and Artwork (2003?)
- The Golden Legacy (Arthur
Luhn, 2003)
- No Talking Allowed (Matt Daigle & Yoon Lee, 2003)
- Keychain (Rene
Visco, 2005) from LightKitchen
- On and off stage: the Bruce Hlibok story (Jade Films, 2002)
- Somalia (Jade Films, not yet released)
- I Love You, But (Peter Wolf, 1998)
- The Key (1996)
- Listen To The Hands Of Our People (Jade Films, 1993?)
- Think Me Nothing (Peter Wolf, 1975)
- Deafula (Peter Wolf, 1975)
Other works in ASL:
- Perlis Films - MICA Runway Models 2006, Golly Gee Giant, and other short films by Jennifer Perlis "introducing ... aspects of D/deaf culture to a larger audience"
- Signmark - Hiphop and rap group headed by Marko Vuoriheimo, performs
in ASL and Finnish Sign Language
- Deaf Rochester Film Festival -
March 23-25, 2007 - archives on the site have streaming short films from
the DRFF 2005 award winners, including "Don't
Mind?" by
Patti Durr & Lizzie Sorkin
- Vital Signs (2006) 4
mins. "A short story about a character who was told he has a terminal
heart condition with only one week left to live....The film is an experiment
to show that American Sign Language (ASL) is a cinematic language."
- 20th Century Chicago Stories
- Deaf Lives and Experiences (2005) - Interviews that preserve and
tell the stories and histories of the Chicago Deaf community.
- Til Domestic Violence Do Us
Part (2005) 20 mins. An educational film about domestic violence,
by Mösdeux.
- Rangeland Romances (Gary
Brooks, 2004)
"The best and the most hilarious deaf short film to come by in a long,
long time."
- The G Files - (1999-2005)
TV series by Gary Brooks
- Manny ASL (2002)
- storytelling by Manny Hernandez
- You Think Deaf People Have
Problems? (Angela Stratiy, 1999) "..a one-woman comedy show on
her humorous perspectives on hearing people"
- Sharing Secrets (1991)
directed by Don Bangs, written by Linda M. Franchi - "This serious but heart-warming
drama demonstrates how deaf youth can end the isolation of sexual abuse
that often destroys their self-esteem."
- The
Treasure (1995) - and other Poems by Ella Mae Lentz - a varied and
powerful collection of poems, both older works translated from English
and more recent ones composed in ASL.
- Charles
Krauel: A Profile of a Deaf Filmmaker (1995)
- ASL
Poetry - Selected works of Clayton Valli (1995)
- Poetry
in Motion (1989)
- "These Deaf artists ( Clayton Valli, Debbie Rennie, & Patrick
Graybill) offer a unique and rare glimpse into the heart of
the American Deaf community. The format of each tape allows the poet to
discuss certain aspects of the creative process and how the material is
selected and developed."
- Jolanta Lapiak -
diverse short multimedia and video works
- United States of
ASL - Poetry and Other Tales by Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner, the Flying
Words Project
- nobody,
not even the rain, has such small hands (1995) 15 min. - A tranliteration
of e.e. cummings love poem.
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1995, 1 hr. episodes)
- "Someone She Loved" & "Look at Me So I Can Hear You" (1995) - short films
by Dawn Skwersky
- See What I'm Saying (Thomas Kaufman, 1992) "This ... documentary follows Patricia, a deaf child from a hearing, Spanish-speaking family, through her first year at the Kendall Elementary School of Gallaudet University"
- Laurent Clerc 1785-1869
- The Los Angeles Club of the Deaf Story
- The
Preservation of American Sign Language - 9 short films made in 1913
Films in English with significant use of ASL:
Films in other sign languages:
(includes Auslan, BSL, CSL, DGS, INS, LSF, LIBRAS, LSI, NGT,
FSE, JSL, RSL, SFS)
- Dragon People (Chinese SL, 2006) "follows Louise Gibson, a deaf British photographers traveling through China where she photographs the lives of multi-generational deaf people as they cope with a rapidly changing world."
- Nectar (Liz Crow, English and British SL, 2005) "Set in 1931, 'Nectar'
is about the journey of a young Deaf lad towards a language of his own.
It's made in a combination of British Sign Language (contemporary and 1931)
and spoken English ...available on DVD with BSL interpretation, captions/subtitles
and audio description"
- Dietro il mondo 2 ("Beyond
the World 2" Daniele Le Rose, Italian SL, 2005/post-production) "a
fiction depicting the everyday life for Deaf students in Padova"
- Welcome
2 My Deaf World (English and Australian SL, 2005) "This story of
two teenagers on the edge of change is really the saga of what it means
to be deaf in contemporary Australia."
- Svadba tishiny ("Wedding
of Silence", Pavel
Medvedev, Russian SL, 2004)
- Entrevista Com o Surdo Gay (Brazilian
SL, 2004)
- Dear Frankie (English
and British SL, 2004 ) Mostly in English, but a wonderful movie, so for
the moment i'll include it here
- Hello Sweet Baby - (Nenio Mbazima of Deafpower
Productions, Johannesburg, South African/Swazi SL with English subs,
2004) "The purpose of the film is teach(ing) teenagers both Deaf
and hearing about the dangers of rushing to sex and early pregnancy."
- Versteend verdriet ("Petrified
Sorrow", Mieke Julien, Dutch SL, Dutch? & English?, 2002) "The
story of one Dutch Jewish family's experiences during World War II."
- Stille Liebe ("Secret
Love", German & German SL, 2001)
- Wusheng de
he ("Silent River", Ning Jingwu, Mandarin? and Chinese
SL, 2000) "Beautifully
shot with the same unique sensibility that pervades the films of compatriots
Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, 'Silent River' tells the poetic and lyrical
tale of a group of deaf students and the friendship they form with their
tutor in the search for personal happiness."
- Aino
ja yhdeksän ihmettä ("Aino and Her Nine Miracles",
Finnish
SL, 2000)
- Jenseits der Stille ("Beyond
Silence", German SL & German, 1996)
- Dietro
il Mondo ("Beyond
the World", Daniele Le Rose, Italian SL, 2004)
- Reservoir Wolves (2001,
British SL) 10 mins.
- Ai rabu yû ("I
Love You" 1999, Japanese SL & Japanese) - directed by Yutaka Osawa
and Akihiro Yonaiyama
- Journey of the Deaf (Avy Hemy, 2000) - "Two Deaf actors from a deaf
theater troupe leave their families in Israel for the first time to participate
in an international puppet festival (in Cuba.) There they meet with the
community of the deaf, the Palestinian community, musicians, dance troupes
and theater companies, as well as the average Cuban on the street. While
they revel in the splendor of the encounter with Cuban culture, the journey
turns into a search for human contact."
- Journeys (English
and British SL, 2000)
- Piao liang ma ma ("Breaking
the Silence", Mandarin, 1999) - a Chinese mother's attempts to give
an oral education to her deaf son. It doesn't seem, then, to belong on this
list, but i'm leaving it here for now as a rare? deaf-themed Chinese film.
- Marianna Ucrìa (Italian
and Italian SL?, 1997)
- Regardez-moi,
je vous regarde ("Look
at Me, I Look at You", French SL, 1996) - "Homage in form of a poem to
Japanese photographer Koji Inoue, told in sign language by a deaf actor,
Levent Beskardes"
- Sourds à l'image (French
and French SL, 1995)
- Children
of Silence (English & British SL??, 1993?) - part of Desmond Wilcox' "The
Visit" series of documentaries
- Témoins
sourds, témoins silencieux ("Deaf
Witnesses, Silent Witnesses", Brigitte Lemaine and Stéphane
Gatti, French, 2000) - also see an in-depth
review
- Le pays de sourds ("In
the Land of the Deaf", French SL & French, 1992) - excellent documentary
on deaf school life in France
- Actions
Speak Louder Than Words (British SL, 1992, 22 mins.) "Six deaf
performers--three women, three men--are brought together to devise staged
pieces on the intersection of gay and deaf cultures, and the highly politicized
nature of both."
- Les mains
du sourd (French and French SL, 1988)
- Koshish (Gulzar, Hindi
and Indian SL, 1972) "..a landmark movie in the history of Indian cinema
...about a deaf and mute couple and their conflicts, pain and struggle to
carve out a niche for themselves in a desensitized society, sees perhaps
the finest acting by any lead pair in the entire course of 125 years of
Hindi Cinema."
- Verkannte Menschen (in
German SL, with German subtitles?, 1932)
- Sprechende Hände (David
Gertrud, German SL, 1925) Documentary about deaf life in Germany?
Other ASL film resources: