SDFF - The Last Day

This morning I headed up to SDFF once again, and I took this lovely picture near the bridge that crosses 15th, right near by my bus stop. I was glad to see that the sun is finally out, although I wished it wasn't so cold!

First thing - as I promised you, I got a review of the movie Silenced - and I found out even more information online about it - can you believe it? This story really did happen! This movie is based on true-life events. I thought I'd add some links here so you can learn more about this movie -

ApparentlyThe Crucible (as it is known in Korea) is a huge hit over there, and it's based on best seller by Goong Ji-Yong, a novel by the same name that was a best seller in South Korea in 2009. You can even check out the trailer here. It 's a mainstream film, too - one of Korea's most popular actors, Gong Yoo,  starred in this. I definitely hope that I will have the opportunity to see this movie someday!  

Joshua gives us a great summary - check it out. By the way, Joshua was the one who organized the gatherings on the first night and the last night - great job, Joshua!

Not to forget my other promise - here's Napal, our volunteer coordinator, and I thought I'd add in Jena Floyd (rocking the retro glasses down below)  as well - she's  the co-coordinator of the Handwaves events.  You should attend those events -they're fun and a great break from the routine movie/dinner/sports event.  She also works with Bree Dolan, who I couldn't find to take a picture of :(

As usual, it was such an exciting day filled with fun things to do. By this time, I had gotten to know some of the regulars - the people who had came all weekend - and out of curiousity, I asked one of the regulars to share his experience - he was more than thrilled to do so!  I totally agree with his feeling - it's amazing to see how much talent out there, and what a rich community us Deaf people have.

The volunteers were ready to work today - and here's one of our lovely volunteers ready with a smile - although she, along with others, spent a lot of time trying to herd the chatting moviegoers in the theatre on time - something I've seen everywhere - once a couple of Deaf people start chatting, you practically have to hit them over the head to get them moving. :D

I also wanted to share with you a picture of Rod - he works for Deaf Spotlight as their accountant. Behind those humble glasses, he holds the whole organization in his hand. Beware.  Seriously, though, he was a nice guy and it was good to meet him.  Without him, we would've not had SDFF! Thanks!




I attended the Point Of View shorts today - and honestly, this was my favorite part of the festival - I teared up watching Babur's story, and was interested in Aran's story about converting to Islam. It made me think about how important it is to have our community, and how much humans crave contact with others like themselves. 

I especially loved "The Deaf Man"  short - I wished I had a copy to share with my ASL students! The last short film, "The End", was particulary terrifying - what if deafness was wiped out entirely? What would it be like to be the last deaf person on Earth? I asked someone to share some thoughts about it -

I stayed in the theater to watch the Suspense/Drama shorts, even though my stomach was growling by then. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the student submitted selections.  "Go Ahead" was this moviegoer's favorite-

***On a personal note - I had been disappointed the day before by the poor quality of some of the animation films that were shown (hence the mouse joke) because I believe in maintaining a high standard. I argue that SDFF should have high standards for submissions, even if that means we will not be able to use all the time sloted (Hey, some of us want to eat lunch, right?). Let's hope that in the next time around, there will be better selections - we have so many talented Deaf artisans out there - let's give them the opportunity!  I was happy to see that there were better selections today.

SDFF committee, I hope you're listening - You've done a terrific job, but let's not lower our standards like this again. The Deaf community deserves better representation at our movie festivals.

Now it was time to eat! I enjoyed my ham and cheese sandwich and observed the churchgoers. Apparently, a church had scheduled to use the theater near ours that day - we even had to ask them to turn down their speakers - it was so loud (Yes, I do realize the irony). 

I had some free time after lunch, so I asked Rob, the co-coordinator of SDFF, if he could share some thoughts.  Rob and Patty had worked so hard to make this happen (along with others on the lovely SDFF committee!).

I also caught up with some moviegoers, doing the deaf chat thing and to ask about their opinions of the Holocaust films. It seemed to be one of the most popular selections of the day! Two moviegoers were a little shy about sharing their opinion of the Holocaust films, so here's a nice picture of them instead :)

I did find someone to share -she had some good things to say about SDFF and the Holocaust Films themselves -

At the end of the night, I took off a little bit early (Yes, even this blogger has other responsibilties to attend to!), and I took the same picture again, this time with a lovely sunset.  UW really does have a beautiful campus, and I always enjoy the rich smell of the trees when I'm there.

There was still a movie slated that night, as well as a closing gathering. I had already seen the movie,"The Heart of the Hydrogen Jukebox", the title, which, by the way, is based on a line from a Allen Ginsberg poem.  Ginsberg himself makes a cameo appearance~!  Lovely, lovely film. I've had it on my Amazon wish list ever since I first watched it.  I will be sharing a review of mine with you later next week. :)

I also called in a favor and had a friend email me some pictures he took of the closing gathering (thanks, Buddy!), and it looks like there was good times to be had with friends.

And I wanted to send a shout out to all the ASL and ITP students who attended and helped out - here's a pix of one of mine - who came the whole weekend and helped out a whole lot. You rock, Roberta! See you in class.

Last, but not least, many thanks to ASLIN who donated interpreting services the whole weekend - it was great working with you, guys.

I hope to see you all in two years when we do this again :) It was so much fun, and I'm looking forward to it.   Don't forget to attend other Deaf Spotlight events - we look forward to sharing our rich Deaf culture with you.