DeafMovies.org: a list of films in ASL & other Sign Languages

Since 2005 I've slowly compiled a list of all the feature-length ASL films I can find, along with a selection of short films, Deaf film festivals, and films in other Deaf sign languages.
Please enjoy, and send me comments, additions, or corrections anytime.
(deafmovies (@) johnlubotsky (.) com)

Full-length films in ASL:

• Siobhan (Cody Clarke, in pre-production) "modern day romantic comedy-drama in a similar vein to Woody Allen’s classic New York films. It tells the story of a reclusive Deaf woman in her mid-20‘s who lives alone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and hermits herself from the world, from happiness, and from love. She will be played by renowned Deaf theatre actress Tami Lee Santimyer."
• The Gift (Alexander Genievsky, 2011) "Boy meets girl, they fall in love, crisis arises and happy ending ensues complicated by deafness, insensitivity to individual challenges and saved by personal sacrifice."
• Interface (Chantal Deguire, 2011) The "first ASL Feature in Canada" - sci-fi fantasy, with a great trailer.
• Austin Unbound (Eliza Greenwood, 2011) "a rite of passage documentary about a Deaf female to male transsexual"
• Gerald (Mark Wood/ASL Films Productions, 2010) "...portrays the story of a young deaf couple who suddenly needs to deal with the groom-to-be's grandfather who is both deaf and autistic."
• The Heart of The Hydrogen Jukebox (Miriam Lerner, 2009) Two hour documentary examining ASL poetry in the 80s and 90s. (Library)
• Lexie Cannes (Tom Bertling, 2009) 70 mins. Thriller about a deaf woman being stalked.
• See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary (Hilari Scarl, 2009) (Library)
• The Caretaker (Mösdeux, 2009)
• The Deaf Family (Chad Taylor, 2008) "a movie sitcom that follows a family from job-hunting to pyramid money-making schemes, holier-than-thou pretentious people to obnoxious 'grassroots' folks."
• Universal Signs (Ann Calamia, 2008) "a modern silent film ... captioned for the hearing"
• The Legend of the Mountain Man (ASL Films Productions, 2008?) One of 5 full-length films by this company - also "Wrong Game", "Forget Me Not", "Black Sand", and "Gerald".
• The "A" Word (Laura Harvey, 2006) 80 mins. "a Deaf version of 'The L Word.' 10 women with different stories, whether it be sad, funny, serious or romantic, that are sure to bring laughter and tears. Film signed in ASL only."
• A Permanent Grave (Wayne Betts, Jr.) "a drama about a high school teacher who makes a grave mistake that could turn his life upside-down."
• Soda Stories (in open development) "a commentary about how it is for people with Deaf siblings."
• Dr. Hand (Gary Brooks, 2005) a fantasy/adventure from Blue Apple Productions (Library)
• Pinky Tells the Real Story (Pinky Aiello, 2005) Comedy and the inside scoop about videophone & Video Relay Service
• Keychain (Rene Visco/LightKitchen, 2005)
• Listen To The Hands Of Our People (Ann Marie Bryan/DeafVision Filmworks, 2004, ©1994) A documentary about seven Deaf people living with AIDS. (Library)
• What Are You..Deaf? (CJ Jones, 2004)
• Nathie: No Hand-Me Downs (Tactile Mind Press, 2004) Full-length documentary about Nathie Marbury, comedian and storyteller. (Library)
• Passion of Words Turning Into Action: A Black Deaf Filmmaker's Journey (Ann Marie Bryan/Deaf Vision Filmworks, 2004) (Library)
• Guy Wonder: Stories and Artwork (2003) Stories and conversations with Deaf artist Guy Wonder. (Library)
• The Golden Legacy (Arthur Luhn, 2003)
• No Talking Allowed (Matt Daigle & Yoon Lee, 2003)
• On and off stage: the Bruce Hlibok story (Jade Films, 2002) "A documentary film about the late famed provocative Deaf theater artist."
• I Love You, But (Peter Wolf, 1998) - A hilarious classic comedy/love story.
• The Key (Key Films, 1996) "An American Sign Language adaptation of the Eudora Welty short story in which a woman and man who are travelling from Louisiana to Niagra Falls for different reasons meet a drifter who has the power to help or hinder them." (Library)
• Think Me Nothing (Peter Wolf, 1975)
• Deafula (Peter Wolf, 1976) (Library)

Other works in ASL:

• The Silent Killer (Beg Borrow Steal Productions, 2013) Short film
• Gallaudet (Ryan Commerson, 2010) Short film highlighting Gallaudet University.
• Re-Defining D-E-A-F (Ryan Commerson, 2008) 38 mins. "A public proposal on the means to create significant social change."
• Deaf Man Walking: Writing the biographies of two living legends (NTID, 2008) 51 mins. "Harry Lang speaks on the experience of writing the biographies of two men who have taught at NTID, Robert Davila and Robert Panara." (Library)
• The Blue Box (2008) - directed by D. Lance Pickett, a short detective thriller (with a great preview!) (Library)
• The Deaf Man (2008) - a "thought-provoking short movie"
• You Neutral? (2008) - "As deaf and hard-of-hearing people roll forth in life, they experience much. And yet, many prefer to stay neutral. This video shows the clear contrast between such attitudes and what's going on."
• The Rosa Lee Show (2008) - A Deaf one-woman show featuring original storytelling, video skits, poetry, & music.
• Through Deaf Eyes (PBS, 2007) A well-produced and entertaining documentary about the history of Deaf culture in America. (Library)
• Audism Unveiled (Benjamin Bahan, H-Dirksen L. Bauman, & Facundo Montenegro, 2006) (Library)
• Exodus: A Deaf Jewish Family Escapes the Holocaust (Patti Durr/NTID, 2006) 25 mins. "A short documentary about the Wiener/Rattner family's flight from Nazi occupied Austria and their detainment on Ellis Island."
• Reflections of a Black Deaf Woman (2006) 95 mins. Michelle Banks one-woman show "reveals the hardships and triumphs of two strong African-American women that speak to the human condition and the search for love and understanding."
• Twelfth Night (Peter Novak, 2006) A "stellar cast of Deaf actors" performing the Shakespeare classic.
• Vital Signs (Mösdeux, 2006) 4 mins. "A short story about a character who was told he has a terminal heart condition with only one week left to live....The film is an experiment to show that American Sign Language (ASL) is a cinematic language." (Library)
• 20th Century Chicago Stories - Deaf Lives and Experiences (2005) - Interviews that preserve and tell the stories and histories of the Chicago Deaf community.
• Til Domestic Violence Do Us Part (Mösdeux, 2005) 20 mins. An educational film about domestic violence. (Library)
• Rangeland Romances (Wayne Betts Jr., 2004) "The best and the most hilarious deaf short film to come by in a long, long time."
• Other films by Wayne Betts, Jr.
• The G Files - (1999-2005) TV series by Gary Brooks
• Deaf Way II - Opening Celebration and A Visual Anthology (2004) "Two unique views of the diverse events at Deaf Way II, July 2002 at Gallaudet"
• No Talking Allowed - Silence Speaks for Love (Yoon Lee & Matt Daigle/CSD-TV, 2003) 45 mins. Romantic comedy. (Library)
• Manny ASL (2002) - storytelling by Manny Hernandez
• Two Worlds Apart (CSD-TV, 2002) 25 mins. "A cutting-edge Thriller" (Library)
• You Think Deaf People Have Problems? (Angela Stratiy, 1999) "..a one-woman comedy show on her humorous perspectives on hearing people" (Library)
• United States of ASL - Poetry and Other Tales (Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner/The Flying Words Project, 1998) (Library)
• The Treasure (1995) - and other Poems by Ella Mae Lentz - a varied and powerful collection of poems, both older works translated from English and more recent ones composed in ASL.
• Charles Krauel: A Profile of a Deaf Filmmaker (1995)
• ASL Poetry - Selected works of Clayton Valli (1995)
• Poetry in Motion (1989) - "These Deaf artists (Clayton Valli, Debbie Rennie, & Patrick Graybill) offer a unique and rare glimpse into the heart of the American Deaf community. The format of each tape allows the poet to discuss certain aspects of the creative process and how the material is selected and developed." (Library)
• nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands (1995) 15 mins. - A transliteration of the E.E. Cummings love poem.
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1995, 1 hr. episodes)
• "Someone She Loved" & "Look at Me So I Can Hear You" (1995) - short films by Dawn Skwersky
• Charles Krauel: A Profile of a Deaf Filmmaker (Ted Supella/Dawn Pictures, 1994) "...recaptures a thriving American Deaf community in the first half of the twentieth century." (Library)
• Laurent Clerc 1785-1869 (1995) (Library)
• The Los Angeles Club of the Deaf Story (1993) 30 mins. (Library)
• See What I'm Saying (Thomas Kaufman, 1992) "This ... documentary follows Patricia, a deaf child from a hearing, Spanish-speaking family, through her first year at the Kendall Elementary School of Gallaudet University"
• Sharing Secrets (1991) directed by Don Bangs, written by Linda M. Franchi - "This serious but heart-warming drama demonstrates how deaf youth can end the isolation of sexual abuse that often destroys their self-esteem."
• Language landscape: a presentation of deaf performance art (Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, 1988) 30 mins. "American sign-language performances ... by Mary Beth Miller, Musign, ... Sam Supalla, storyteller Ben Behan, and ASL poet Ella Mae Lentz" (Library)
• The Preservation of American Sign Language - Portions of eight films made in the early 1900's (Library)
• Signmark - Hiphop and rap group headed by Marko Vuoriheimo, performs in ASL and Finnish Sign Language
• Perlis Films - MICA Runway Models 2006, Golly Gee Giant, and other short films by Jennifer Perlis "introducing ... aspects of D/deaf culture to a larger audience"
• Jolanta Lapiak - diverse short multimedia and video works

Film Festivals:

• Seattle Deaf Film Festival - Seattle, WA - Aprile 1-3rd, 2016 (Deadline for Submissions: October 31, 2015)
• Irish Deaf Film Festival - Kilkenny, Ireland - October 12-14th 2012
• Deaffest Film and Television Festival - Wolverhampton, UK - May 25-27, 2012
• Maine Deaf Film Festival - April 13-14, 2012
• DC Deaf Film Festival - Washington, DC - Spring, 2012
• 2nd Hong Kong International Deaf Film Festival - February 24-26, 2012
• India Deaf Film Festival - New Delhi, India - December 3-4, 2011
• Flagstaff Deaf Film Festival - Flagstaff, AZ - October 8, 2011 (Deadline for Submissions: August 15, 2011)
• Deaf In The Picture - Amsterdam, Netherlands - June 23-26, 2011
• Toronto International Deaf Film & Arts Festival - May 12-15, 2011
• Deaf Short Film Festival New Zealand -Christchurch, New Zealand - May 6-8, 2011
• Deaf Rochester Film Festival - Rochester, NY - March 31-April 3, 2011
• WORLDEAF Cinema Festival - Gallaudet University - November 4-7, 2010
• 2nd International Film Festival of the Deaf - Milan, Italy- October 30-31, 2010
• 2nd Festival of Short Films, Barcelona - September 18, 2010
• Show Me Deaf Film Festival - October 1-3, 2009
• Northern California Deaf Film Festival - Fremont, CA - June 5-6, 2009
• Berkeley Deaf Film Festival - Berkeley, CA - Feb 21-23, 2003 (time for another one!)

Films in English with significant use of ASL (or other Sign Language):

• No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie (2013) "A beautiful and inspiring drama..." (Library)
• Dummy Jim (Matt Hulse, in production) "based on James Duthie's inspiring solo cycling trip (from Scotland) to the Arctic Circle in 1951."
• Conned (EyethFilms, 2010)
• The Hammer (Oren Kaplan, 2010) "A true story based on the life of deaf UFC fighter Matt Hamill ...a sports drama depicting the struggles and successes Matt faces on the way to becoming a champion."
• There Will Be Blood (2007) A violent and brilliantly disturbing movie; the protagonist's late-deafened son is minor part of the plot, but I'm including it for realistic depiction of interpretation, and touching signed marriage vows.
• Dummy Hoy - A Deaf Hero (2007) Documentary about the first Deaf major league baseball player. (Library)
• Love is Deaf (2005) - "..an impossible love story about two broken hearts separated by language but brought together by their otherness."
• A Lot Like Love (2005) - A really sweet and fun movie. The male lead has a deaf brother, who is portrayed as a real person who just happens to be deaf.
• The Family Stone (2005)
• Speakeasy (2002)
• After Image (2001)
• Signs of Us (2000)
• Sound and Fury (2000) - powerful documentary on cochlear implants
• Compensation (1999)
• Dead Silence (1997) - does this one belong here?
• Breaking Through (1996)
• Mr. Holland's Opus (1995)
• Bridge to Silence (1989)
• Children of a Lesser God (1986) - A speech teacher at a Deaf school falls in love with a janitor, Marlee Matlin. Deserving of the Academy Award.
• Love is Never Silent - (1985) "Set in the depression, somewhere in the east coast, and during WWII. lovely story ... a LOT of labor and class politics happening"
• A Summer to Remember (1985) - bitter deaf boy befriended by signing chimp.
• And Your Name is Jonah (1979)
• The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
• Johnny Belinda (1948)
• Out of the Past (1947)
• You'd Be Surprised (1926) - "a Victor/Victoria-esque Deaf role where [Granville] Redmond, a Deaf man, played a Hearing man pretending to be a Deaf man in order to provide the plot twist."

Films in other sign languages:
(includes ABSL, Auslan, BSL, CSL, DGS, INS, LSF, LIBRAS, LSI, NGT, FSE, JSL, RSL, SFS, TSL)

• Sign Gene (JSL, ASL, Japanese and English, "and a bit of LIS", Emilio Insolera, 2010/post-production?)
• Ting shuo ("Hear Me" - TSL and Mandarin Chinese, 2009) also on Youtube with English subtitles
• The Lost Reels (BSL, Matthew Humphreys, 2009) 5 mins. Short experimental film: "Mervyn is deaf and has recently become blind. The lifecycle of a butterfly, memories and the simple act of making a cup of tea are entwined to articulate his experience."
• Discovering: Shaktura (2009) Documentary about homeless deaf and disabled children in Calcutta.
• Voices From El-Sayed (Al-Sayyid Bedouin SL, Oded Adomi Leshem, 2009) 74 mins. Documentary on the Bedouin village of Al-Sayyid. (Library)
• L'enfance Sourde (Brigette Lemaine, French & French SL, 2008) (Library)
• Dragon People (ASL & Chinese SL, 2006) "follows Louise Gibson, a deaf British photographers traveling through China where she photographs the lives of multi-generational deaf people as they cope with a rapidly changing world."
• Black (English, Hindi, Indian SL, 2005) "A classic Helen Keller plot, with the protagonist teaching a deaf-blind child."
• Kalle (Swedish SL?, 2005) "A young man has been murdered. An investigator questions the man's mother and her boyfriend. All parts are played by Joakim Hagelin Adeby." (Library)
• Nectar (Liz Crow, English and British SL, 2005) "Set in 1931, 'Nectar' is about the journey of a young Deaf lad towards a language of his own. It's made in a combination of British Sign Language (contemporary and 1931) and spoken English ...available on DVD with BSL interpretation, captions/subtitles and audio description"
• Dietro il mondo 2 ("Beyond the World 2" Daniele Le Rose, Italian SL, 2005/post-production) "a fiction depicting the everyday life for Deaf students in Padova"
• Welcome 2 My Deaf World (English and Australian SL, 2005) "This story of two teenagers on the edge of change is really the saga of what it means to be deaf in contemporary Australia." (Library)
• Svadba tishiny ("Wedding of Silence", Pavel Medvedev, Russian SL, 2004)
• Entrevista Com o Surdo Gay (Brazilian SL, 2004)
• Dear Frankie (English and British SL, 2004 ) Mostly in English, but a wonderful movie, so for the moment i'll include it here
• Hello Sweet Baby - (Nenio Mbazima of Deafpower Productions, Johannesburg, South African/Swazi SL? with English subs, 2004) 114 mins. "The purpose of the film is teach(ing) teenagers both Deaf and hearing about the dangers of rushing to sex and early pregnancy."
• Auto-Film (2003) (Library)
• Words of Silence (Greek SL, Lucia Rikaki, 2002) 74 min. Documentary on Deaf life and culture in Greece.
• Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit ("Land of Silence and Darkness" Werner Herzog, German and German SL, 1971)
• Versteend verdriet ("Petrified Sorrow", Mieke Julien, Dutch SL, Dutch? & English?, 2002) "The story of one Dutch Jewish family's experiences during World War II."
• Stille Liebe ("Secret Love", German & German SL, 2001)
• Wu sheng de he ("Silent River", Ning Jingwu, Mandarin and Chinese SL, 2001) "Beautifully shot with the same unique sensibility that pervades the films of compatriots Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, 'Silent River' tells the poetic and lyrical tale of a group of deaf students and the friendship they form with their tutor in the search for personal happiness." (Library)
• Aino ja yhdeksän ihmettä ("Aino and Her Nine Miracles", Vesa Saarinen, Finnish SL, 2000)
• Jenseits der Stille ("Beyond Silence", German SL & German, 1996) (Library)
• Dietro il Mondo ("Beyond the World", Daniele Le Rose, Italian SL, 2004)
• Reservoir Wolves (2001, British SL) 10 mins.
• Ai rabu yû ("I Love You" 1999, Japanese SL & Japanese) - directed by Yutaka Osawa and Akihiro Yonaiyama
• Journey of the Deaf (Avy Hemy, 2000) - "Two Deaf actors from a deaf theater troupe leave their families in Israel for the first time to participate in an international puppet festival (in Cuba.) There they meet with the community of the deaf, the Palestinian community, musicians, dance troupes and theater companies, as well as the average Cuban on the street. While they revel in the splendor of the encounter with Cuban culture, the journey turns into a search for human contact."
• Journeys (Claudia Kappenberg, English and British SL, 2000)
• Piao liang ma ma ("Breaking the Silence", Mandarin, 1999) - a Chinese mother's attempts to give an oral education to her deaf son. It doesn't seem, then, to belong on this list, but i'm leaving it here for now as a rare? deaf-themed Chinese film. (Library)
• Marianna Ucrìa (Italian and Italian SL?, 1997)
• Regardez-moi, je vous regarde ("Look at Me, I Look at You", Brigitte Lemaine, French SL, 1996) - "Homage in form of a poem to Japanese photographer Koji Inoue, told in sign language by a deaf actor, Levent Beskardes"
• Sourds à l'image (French and French SL, 1995)
• Children of Silence (English & British SL??, 1993?) - part of Desmond Wilcox' "The Visit" series of documentaries
• Témoins sourds, témoins silencieux ("Deaf Witnesses, Silent Witnesses", Brigitte Lemaine and Stéphane Gatti, French, 2000) - also see an in-depth review
• Le pays de sourds ("In the Land of the Deaf", French SL & French, 1992) - excellent documentary on deaf school life in France
• Actions Speak Louder Than Words (British SL, 1992, 22 mins.) "Six deaf performers--three women, three men--are brought together to devise staged pieces on the intersection of gay and deaf cultures, and the highly politicized nature of both."
• Les mains du sourd (French and French SL, 1988)
• Koshish (Gulzar, Hindi and Indian SL, 1972) "..a landmark movie in the history of Indian cinema ...about a deaf and mute couple and their conflicts, pain and struggle to carve out a niche for themselves in a desensitized society, sees perhaps the finest acting by any lead pair in the entire course of 125 years of Hindi Cinema."
• Verkannte Menschen (in German SL, with German subtitles?, 1932)
• Sprechende Hände (David Gertrud, German SL, 1925) Documentary about deaf life in Germany?

• Deaf Women In Film is a very active blog and community, full of info and resources.
• Visual Materials/Deaf Studies Collection at Wallace Library, RIT - a huge list including entertainment and literature - if only they did interlibrary loans.
• Deaf In The Picture Deaf Film Database - a huge collection of titles and summaries of deaf short films from around the world
• Interpreted cartoons at the Internet Archive
• In San Francisco, the SFPL Deaf Services Center has an excellent collection of videotapes and DVDs.