We are overjoyed to share that the film ‘The Silent Child’ is amongst the Oscar 2018 nominees revealed today.
The Silent Child, directed by Chris Overton and written by Rachel Shenton, has been nominated for Best Live Action Short Film.
The film stars Maisie Sly, who’s deaf, playing the role of 4-year-old Libby who lives in a silent world and former Hollyoaks actress Rachel Shenton playing the role of social worker Joanna who teaches Libby the gift of communication (www.thesilentchildmovie.com). One of the Deaffest Co-Founders Marilyn Willrich makes an appearance in the film too!
When Rachel Shenton took up the role of Deaffest Patron in December 2016 the Zebra Uno media team interviewed her about her life and the film The Silent Child. You can watch the interview below:
Exclusive Interview with Rachel Shenton from Zebra Uno on Vimeo.
We screened the interview exclusively at Deaffest last year.
Congratulations to The Silent Child’s team for being nominated. The 90th Academy Awards will air this March – all the best to the nominees and we’ll be keeping an eye on the news to find out how they do at the Oscars!
For those who attended Deaffest 2017 and had the opportunity to watch Deaffest’s first ever music video I Believe; we’re excited to let you know that this music video has been selected to be screened at the 4th Seattle Deaf Film Festival (SDFF).
The music video involved a collaboration between performing artists Chris Fonseca (UK) and Rosa Lee Timm (US). A group of young people from the NDCS joined the action, signing to Yolande Adams’ song, I Believe, and had an inspirational experience working with the two talented Deaf professionals. The video was filmed and directed by award-winning filmmaker Bim Ajadi and Music Video Producer Stacy Lawrence.
The SDFF, which is run by Deaf Spotlight, will take place in Seattle, US from 30th March to 1st April 2018. Visit their website to find out more!
Last November our PR Liaison Officer, Louise Parrott, took a trip up to Scotland to attend the Now You See Me Symposium. The event was hosted by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and Solar Bear, and took place at the Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow.
The Symposium was held to celebrate the achievements of the final year students who are on the ground-breaking Royal Conservatoire of Scotland BA Performance in BSL and English course. This course is the UK’s first Deaf Performing Arts Degree, and was launched in 2015.
Tony Whithouse giving a talk
There were various talks given during the Symposium, by experts, practitioners and deaf professionals, with the focus on exploring future opportunities within the theatre, TV and film industry for the ten students on the course. Among those who gave a talk were Solar Bear’s Creative Director Jonathan Lloyd, Head of BA Performance in BSL and English Claire Lamont, BBC Comedy Commissioning Executive Editor Gregor Sharp, Deaf Actor Ramesh Meyyappan and Writer and Producer Toby Whithouse who wrote the Doctor Who episode that involved the deaf actress Sophie Stone.
One of the scenes from Love and Information
A couple of performances took place during the event, including a selection of seven short scenes from the Caryl Churchill’s adaption of the Love and Information production and an extract from ‘words who needs them’ – both of which were performed by the students on the BA course.
Louise had the pleasure of attending the evening performance of the Love and Information show, which was directed by Solar Bear’s Creative Director Jonathan Lloyd. The production was comprised of a series of 50 short scenes performed by the ten students from the course.
“It was fantastic to watch the talents of the students during the production; I was captivated by their performances, the contemporary sense of the scenes and how they have incorporated BSL, English and captions in those scenes. I’m really looking forward to seeing what becomes of those students in the future.” – Louise Parrott
The students will be graduating this June and Deaffest wishes them all the best for their future!
Deaffest 