April 2012 - Letter From The Editor

I truly enjoyed the Seattle Deaf Film Festival! It was our first time, and the committee here worked so hard to provide a wide variety of movies.  Here’s a big cheer to you! I was there the whole weekend, and talked to so many people, getting their thoughts and feelings. They had many great comments to share! You can check out the blog entry from Opening Night at SDFF, Day 2 at SDFF, and SDFF - The Last Day.

With that in mind, I have prepared this months’ edition of What’s Up to showcase reviews from different members of the committee here, and they had plenty to say.  Jena’s review of Austin Unbound discusses both the movie and highlights the issue of the potential use of deaf filmmaking techniques.  In addition, she had the opportunity to interview Austin himself. She tells me that Austin was friendly, engaging and charming.  Jena’s discussion of the Deaf Lens inspired me to rediscover a TEDx Islay short film of a presentation that Wayne Betts gave that discussed the use of “Deaf Lens”. Check it out – his presentation is insightful, brilliant and intriguing.  I’ve posted it on the right in the Video Feed.  He also collaborated with Ryan Commerson and other known filmmakers to create “Gallaudet: The Film” which has been much talked about the past few years. I’ve added that below for your viewing pleasure so you can see their Deaf filmmaking techniques firsthand.  

          In addition, I have other terrific contributions from the Deaf Spotlight staff. Joshua takes us back to a not-so-distant memory – the Unity for Gallaudet protest, as he writes about “Tara’s Story”, and Buddy cautions us about the deeply personal and disturbing nature of “Silenced” – which is based on a true story! I submitted my own review of “Chasing Cotton Clouds”, a whimsical, yet deeply moody film from the UK.  Dov shares with the perspective of a non signer here at the festival, and Gabby Hopkins of Deaf Street Style has chosen to share her review of the “The Heart of the Hydrogen Jukebox” this month, cross posted on her blog.   Patty brings us her viewpoint of the chillingly realistic dystopian film, “The End” (which I am still pondering over, a week later).

To tie up our edition of What’s Up this month, I have also tacked on “Route 87”, a charmingly funny and light hearted animated film that uses ASL handshapes as part of the background. Enjoy!

Please remember to contact me if you are interested in submitting something – we want the opportunity to showcase the talent out there in the Pacific Northwest. Please email use with the required information - your name, contact info, city/state, attachment of your work with a title, and a website if you have one. We will screen and select for the upcoming month's online edition. The deadline is April 25^th, if you wish to submit something to the May edition. Looking forward to more creativity from the Deaf community of the Pacific Northwest!


See you next month,
Katie Roberts
What's Up? Editor