Deaffest

This year Deaffest will be promoting a charity which provides hearing aids for deaf children and adults in Sri Lanka.

The charity is run by the Sumaga Ruhuna Circle of the Deaf in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.

Alex Nowak, our Young Deaffest Ambassador is supporting the charity.  He says: “I will be collecting as many hearing aids as I possibly can to give to deaf children and adults in Sri Lanka.

In the UK, deaf people get hearing aids for free from the NHS, in Sri Lanka they don’t have the same provision.

Sri Lanka hearing aids are still monologue style and therefore any hearing aids we provide will be very beneficial to them and be a positive impact on the Sri Lankan deaf community.

With your hearing aids, they will have more access society and job opportunities. In example, deaf people in Sri Lanka are not allowed to drive unless they wear hearing aids”.

If you would like to help out you can do so easily – we will be providing a bucket at Deaffest where you can donate your old or unwanted hearing aids.  All you have to do is remember to bring them along!

Young Deaffest’s Ambassador Alex Nowak is keeping busy this summer.  As well as his visit to Sri Lanka to set up a film event inspired by Deaffest, he has another aventure planned for late June.  He has landed the lead role in a new production due to be filmed on location in Iceland.

The film, Muted, directed by Richard Crooks focuses on the character of Gren Bariswold, played by Alex. “Gren is a confusing character, he’s cut off from society and has very little knowledge about the real world” says Alex. “He also has moderate autism. He escapes England to Iceland. Once there, his family relations and secrets are revealed.  It’s such an exciting script.  In fact, I was genuinely shocked when I read the climax of the plot. And being an actor, it’s great to get stuck into such a meaty character and story”.

Film director Richard knows he’s made the right choice in casting Alex. “He is absolutely 100% the right man for the job.  I think he is an extremely talented young man and he can now show another dimension to his acting abilities”.

And Alex is looking forward to the challenge. “The more Richard keeps telling me what Iceland has to offer, especially the Blue lagoon – the more I can’t wait to get there! This will be the first time I’m acting in a film abroad. It’s really exciting. I shall keep you updated.”

Chris has been involved in the last three Deaffests, performing solo and with Def Motion (see here his solo performance at Deaffest 2013’s Saturday night Gala Awards event: http://vimeo.com/72356032#t=223s)

Recently Chris released his own dance video filmed by Bim Ajadi, our Ben Steiner Bursary mentor, which took off with high praise and encouragement from many sources.

Check out Chris’s debut video: http://www.youtube.com

Check out Chris’s own website: http://chrisfonsec1.wix.com/cfdancer