The UK's leading Deaf Film & Arts Festival

My name is Andrei Dragunov and my show is called Finger Dance. I’ve been deaf since birth, but for me it was aged 15 when I felt the barriers around me melt away as I discovered my passion for dancing. And what was once a hobby I loved has now become my work obsession. I’ve now been able to take part in a variety of projects; from competing in mainstream Russian and international dance competitions to appearing on television programmes. For example, in the TV programme “Dances” I was in the top 25 dancers, chosen from over 3000 competitors, at the Hip-Hop World Championship 2016-2017, I won 5th place consecutively, and in Hip-Hop International RUSSIA-2015 I received 1st place. I’ve also received many awards from different events and festivals throughout Europe and Russia (including a World Cup) as well as touring. Now I travel, giving master classes in dance not only to hearing people, but also to deaf and various disabled people. I also deliver lectures about my life story.

At Deaffest 2019, in addition to his performances throughout the weekend, Andrei will also be delivering workshops to all age groups from 8 years upwards. More information coming soon!

 

ADREAN MANGIARDI | FILMMAKER

“As an experienced filmmaker, I have directed, edited, produced, coordinated, and filmed for an array of content genres including music videos, feature-length documentaries, promotional marketing, and journalistic broadcasting. A significant proportion of my professional work has a focus of creating artistically stylized closed captioning for innovative music videos and specializing in the creation of fully accessible online live media content for individuals who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Utilizing my experiences as a Teaching Assistant, I also provide group and one-on-one training opportunities to help growing professionals expand their skills in the production field.”

 

CAMILLA ARNOLD | FILMMAKER

Camilla Arnold is one of the founders and Creative Director of Flashing Lights Media, an independent deaf- led television production company. Flashing Lights have just released their third series of the award-winning ’Magic Hands’ for CBeebies.

Camilla is also a producer and director, with documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 under her belt. She produced an experimental documentary for the BBC, ‘Life and Deaf’, which received rave reviews and picked up a ‘Creative Diversity Network’ award and was nominated for an RTS. Camilla also produced ‘School of Life and Deaf’ for Channel 4 which was shortlisted for the Griersons and Broadcast Awards.

 

MYROSLAV SLABOSHPYTSKIY | DIRECTOR / WRITER

Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy graduated from the Kiev State Institute of Theatre and Arts, majoring in feature film directing.
His short films DIAGNOSIS and DEAFNESS have both been nominated for a Golden Bear (2009 & 2010). In 2012, his short NUCLEAR WASTE won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and was nominated for an EFA Award. His first full feature film, THE TRIBE premiered at the 2014 Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and won three prizes, first time in the history of Cannes: The Nespresso Grand Prize, the France 4 Visionary Award and the Gan Foundation for Cinema Award. Since Cannes, THE TRIBE has won 43 awards over the world, including Best First Feature at BFI London and the Special Jury Prize at AFI Fest in LA. THE TRIBE was awarded European Discovery 2014 by the European Film Academy and was sold to 40 territories, including US, UK, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Russia etc.

 

ZOË ROMER |  PRODUCER

Zoë has worked in television production for the last 16 years on a variety of daytime programmes including:  GMTV, Lorraine, This Morning, Loose Women and Good Morning Britain, as well as prime time documentaries for ITV and Channel 5.

Zoë previously worked as a producer on two documentary films for the BSLBT Zoom Focus scheme.  This is I, Remember Me directed by Jack Smallwood and Double Discrimination directed by Rinkoo Barpaga, which won the 2016 disability and justice award at the Superfest International film festival, USA.

We are pleased to have Jenny Köhring working with us at Deaffest 2019 as our Volunteer Coordinator.

 

Jenny Köhring studied BSL/English interpreting at the University of Wolverhampton. She now works as a freelance interpreter (RSLI) mainly in the East Midlands/Derbyshire. She is also currently studying a Master’s degree in occupational psychology with the aim to become a practitioner-researcher. She has volunteered at Deaffest every year since 2015 and has been engaged in the local and national Deaf community.

 

 

 

If you are interested in taking part and joining our fantastic volunteers at this year’s Deaffest 2019, please go to our volunteer page for info https://deaffest.co.uk/deaffest2019-volunteer/