Watch: The trailer for ‘A Life Without Words’

At London’s Open City Doc Fest this Friday, a documentary about two deaf people in Nicaragua called ‘A Life Without Words’ will be screened. The film shows how they are taught their first words by a deaf sign language teacher, and has seen its director Adam Isenberg nominated for the Emerging International Filmmaker Award.

Synopsis:

Born deaf on a farm in Nicaragua, Dulce Maria (28) and her brother Francisco (22) have never been free to stray more than a few miles from their rural home. They know no language at all–written, spoken or signed. This begins to change when they are visited by a deaf sign-language teacher, working for a local NGO, who comes to their village determined to teach them their first words. A fascinating experience, calling for contemplation on the curious nature of language, communication and sound.

The documentary will be screened with English subtitles at 5.45pm at the AV Hill Theatre, UCL Medical Sciences Building, Malet Place WC1E 6BT . Tickets are £5.

HOW TO GET THERE: (From Torrington Place) Enter UCL/Malet Place through the iron gates on Torrington Place. (Opposite Waterstones on the corner of Torrington Place/Malet Street). Walk all the way down Malet Place, through the arch taking you under the building and come into South Quad (otherwise known as South Junction). Go up the double iron staircase opposite the Print Room Cafe to enter the building – the AV Hill Lecture Theatre is on the second floor.

Visit the film’s website at: http://www.alifewithoutwords.com/. Meanwhile, for more information on the Open City Doc Fest website go to: http://www.opencitydocsfest.com/index.php?id=132

The Limping Chicken is supported by Deaf media company Remark!, training and consultancy Deafworks, provider of sign language services Deaf Umbrella, the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Look, Smile Chat campaign, and the National Theatre’s captioned plays.