A celebration of Deaffest’s 12th year and the return of the biennial Film & TV Awards Gala.
Deaffest 2017 returned to Wolverhampton for its 12th festival on 12th – 14th May 2017 celebrating the theme ‘Discovery’. The dynamic festival showcased premieres, films and documentaries by UK and international filmmakers, an exhibition by deaf artists and photographers, held Young Deaffest, workshops for adults and young deaf people, a seminar, inspiring talks by American musician Sean Forbes and actor Sean Berdy and also the biennial Film & TV Awards Gala.
MCs Mia Ward and Rosie Benn hosted Young Deaffest 2017 where the film award went to Chloe and Olivia for their film SSL and Katrina was announced as the winner of the Young Poster Competition. Deaffest’s signed song music video was exclusively shown at the event, the first of its kind to be produced in the UK, involving a collaboration of deaf artists from the UK and USA.
The Deaffest 2017 Film & TV Awards Gala was hosted by MC Douglas Ridloff. The 9 awards, of which James Carroll designed and created, were presented to the following winners:
Best Actress: Lynn Stewart-Taylor | Honeymoon
Best Actor: Matthew Gurney | Small World
Best Screenwriter: Norma McGilp | Deaf Victorians
Best Artistic Short Film: The Song for Single | Zheng Xiaosan
Best Documentary: Silent Laughs | Natalia Kouneli
Best Director: Erik Akervall | The Hunter
Best Television Programme: Best Coast | Erik Akervall
Best UK Short Film: Dawn of the Deaf | Rob Savage
Best Film: For Grace | Sebastian Armesto
Live performances took place throughout the weekend starting on the Friday evening at the launch of the festival, through the Awards Gala and during the Late Night Deaf Party. Performances included the Taiwan First Deaf Dance Group, Street Dancer Chris Fonseca, USA Musician Sean Forbes and his Deaf and Loud band with Jake Bass, Mark Levin and Robbie Wilde, Mark Barber aka iNFiNiTi, Sign Singer Colin Thomson, VV Cirque with Steve Webbs and David Sands, “VV maestro” Giuseppe Giuranna with British comedian John Smith. The Late Night Deaf Party, hosted by MC Matthew Gurney, held the Sign Karaoke competition with many people taking part, the winner of which was William Johnson.
The event was attended by visitors from across the globe as well as guests including Deaffest’s Patron Rachel Shenton, the Mayor and Mayoress of Wolverhampton Barry and Margaret Findley, former Councillor Rob Marris, Filmmaker Louis Neethling, Terry Riley OBE, BBC’s See Hear Series Producer William Mager, Director of Clin d’oeil Festival David de Keyzer and Actor Sean Berdy.
Click here to read about Deaffest 2017 in full.
For more information about Deaffest, visit: www.deaffest.co.uk
For more information please contact PR Liaison Officer Louise Parrott: Lou@zebra-access.com
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