Sat 11th May: Screenings at the University of Wolverhampton

10.05am: Coffee Morning Club: Episode 1 | Dir. Louis Neethling, UK

Members of the Coffee Morning Club gather for their regular meet up to find that a camera crew has been invited to film a documentary about them. A bombshell leaves the members of Coffee Morning Club reeling.

10.33am: Food Fighters: Episode 2 | Dir. Camilla Arnold, UK

In the second episode of ‘Food Fighters’, presented by Marios Costi, four children are given two challenges to complete to impress the series judge, Coco Briden, and the guest judge, Nadia Nadarajah, to get through to the quarter finals. The theme for today’s episode is ‘Zero Waste’.

11.31am: Sign2Win Series 2: Episode 4 | Dir. John Maidens, UK

In this episode of Sign 2 Win, partners Yen and Warren who have been together for 15 years, do they know each other well enough to win £1,000? How determined are the school friends, Kevin, and Amin, to win the show? Best friends Georgina and Georgie have always been mistaken as twins. Does this mean they can read each other well? Who do you think will win?

11.59am: Re:Growth | Dir. Douglas Ridloff, USA

Throughout history, the Hearing community has likened the Deaf community to unwanted weeds, seeking to eradicate them through tools like hearing aids, cochlear implants, and even CRISPR gene editing. This harmful mindset, known as Crab theory, reflects the internalized oppression felt by Deaf individuals isolated from their peers and language models. This poem reframes the Deaf community as resilient and beautiful, despite society’s attempts to uproot them. Just like stubborn weeds in a garden, the Deaf community perseveres and flourishes, challenging the notion of their undesirability and showcasing their potential for growth and strength amidst adversity.

12.03pm: Rite of Identity | Dir. Youmee Lee, USA

Rite of Identity is a film about a deaf child who struggles with an overwhelming soundscape.

12.08pm: The Device That Turned Me Into a Cyborg Was Born the Same Year I was | Dir. Chella Man, USA

Through visual metaphors and circumstantial installations, Chella Man explores his cyborg identity and personal relationship to the freedom and constraints cochlear implants created. (Content may contain Nudity and scenes of a Sexual Nature)

12.12pm: Threshold | Dir. Sofya Gollan, Australia

Threshold is a deeply personal exploration of what it means to have a little machine as part of your body, a portrayal of the Deaf experience rarely seen. The acceptance of a cochlear implant is not an automatic, seamless entry to a world of sound but rather a chaotic understanding of what it is like to hear. (Content may contain Swearing)

12.20pm: Father Tongue | Dir. Ivgeny Gashinsky, Israel

A non-functional relationship between Dror (10) a deaf child and Moshik, his father who struggles to accept his deafness. Moshik insists on integrating Dror in a school for hearing children, where Dror experiences bullying. He first sees his son’s distress after Dror attacks the class bully and is expelled. Now the two have to communicate to find solutions.

12.39pm: La Maynade | Dir. Julien Bourges, France

Sarah does not know her parents. One day, a message tells her that her father, Marc, has disappeared in the Pyrenees. She decides to go to Gérard, Marc’s best friend, at “La Maynade” to find out more about his parents…

12.58pm: Millstone | Dir. Peter Hoffman Kimball, USA

Featuring an entirely Deaf cast and shot exclusively in American Sign Language, this is the story of a married couple who – after having tragically lost a child – seeks out a new, experimental therapy. Their grief is consuming them, destroying their marriage, and driving a wedge between them and the rest of society. They have found the only therapist who might be able to help them – but his process could be worse than anyone imagined.

1.14pm: Tarneit | Dir. John Sheedy, Australia

Tyrone lives with his distressed mother and her boyfriend Pommy, a lowlife who despises immigrants and homosexuals. Tyrone’s best friend Clinton, a refugee, lives with his overworked mother and older brother Shaker, who also has firm ideas about race and sex. Despite these obstacles, Tyrone and Clinton are deeply bonded. Partly because they’re both Deaf, partly through a shared sense of neglect, but mostly because they share a dream of one day escaping the harsh violence that swirls around them. (Content may contain Racial Slurs and scenes of a Homophobic/Racist nature)