Deaf and hearing filmmakers unite for ‘Hear Art’ project to produce three ‘marvellous’ short films

The latest and biggest display of talent from Deaf filmmakers occurred in a quiet theatre in a London hotel, with three short films. Deaf and hearing directors and producers gathered at The Mayfair Hotel for the screening, part of a collaborative project titled ‘Hear Art’.

The Silent Child actress Rachel Shenton and photographer Cindy Sasha are behind the initiative, which they hope shows to the film industry that “it’s easy to be inclusive” and “opens a wider conversation about accessibility and inclusivity” on set.

One Letter, Hair Uncovered and Night Shift screened on Tuesday, with support from the British Short Film Awards and the Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD).

The first, One Letter, focusses on a man’s (Zaqi Ismail) speech at a funeral, with his friend (Ace Mahbaz) watching on. The ‘one letter’, explained early on in the story by Will Mager, offers a poignant take on autocorrect’s disastrous changing of ‘Deaf’ to ‘dead’. Its crisp and intimate direction is courtesy of Brian Duffy, with Ashley Horne as producer.

Although the origin of the idea may seem minuscule, the autocorrect blunder has a far more profound meaning here, because when we’re excluded at drinks and social events, Deaf people can sure feel like they’re dead – invisible, ignored and unacknowledged.

This was echoed by Duffy during a Q&A after the screening. “So I was texting my friend, and we’re talking about [The Witcher],” he said, “and then the idea just came into my head, because sometimes when I’m texting my friends, we make mistake from dead to death.

“So it was a joke that kept on repeating and I thought, why not make a film about it? Because it’s true,” he added. “You know, it’s only one letter. and the deaf people in their environment and schools and things like that. It feels like they are dead sometimes.”

Next was Hair Uncovered, an insight into the life of Deaf asylum seeker and artist Maral ‘Mim’ Mamaghani directed by Cathy Heffernan. From the small subject matter of hair, a wider insightful conversation unfolds around identity and finding yourself.

It is to Heffernan’s credit, as well as Abigale Borsberry as producer, that they were able to establish such a connection with Mim that her story is raw, poignant and emotional. Hair Uncovered navigates the difficult subjects of asylum and religion with the utmost sensitivity, creating an informative film highlighting the so rarely represented perspective of a Deaf asylum seeker.

“I mean, really, this is my first time being in a film,” explained Mim. “There was a lot that was new to me. It was an experience, there was a lot of discussion and talk through the process.

“The amount of support within the team was just sensational. It was just really collaborative,” she added. “I felt that support was there. There was constant discussion and chatting and support throughout. So I really value that. Ultimately, I mean, it was just such a short time, it was over in a flash, but it was a wonderful experience.”

Finally, it was Night Shift, a new black-and-white film from Here/Not Here director Bim Ajadi. After breaking up with her partner, security officer Billie is on the night shift in a car park when something catches her eye in the cameras. Her investigation leads to a new heartfelt connection which turn stereotypical media narratives on their head.

The short film is written by Louise Stern and produced by Earleatha Oppon. Alongside being a fine example of communication and teamwork in its late-night filming, Ajadi has a remarkable attention to detail, as a cigarette lighter given to Billie by her ex struggles to ignite like her past relationship. That isn’t an issue for long though, as a new spark occurs on the night shift.

“Working with a deaf and hearing team was a really positive experience,” Ajadi said. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time and I think with this project, I felt like I really fulfilled my dream in doing so.”

In response to a question from The Limping Chicken about the relationship between creativity and communication, and where there may have been conflict, Heffernan responded: “Well, if you look at Mim’s journey, and all those sort of film elements, it’s a completely different journey – we’ve recreated a completely different things.

“I think it was an element of freedom to explore the path we wanted to go down. I think that’s what was really exciting,” she added. “It was about learning how to communicate with different team members. […] We had to just make personal adjustments within each other, between whoever was in that team.

“Every time we met a new person, there were just little small micro-adjustments just to make that communication work. I would say there wasn’t any conflict or in terms of communication needs that came up.

“There was interpretation between myself and the DOP [Director of Photography], but the interpreter was there for everybody involved within the project and everybody within that space.”

Another question from the audience highlighted what skills the hearing filmmakers would take on to their next project. and for Oppon, it was that for a narrative, “you don’t need a lot of words. You can take an audience on a journey with your character, heavily relying on visuals”.

For Horne, it was “just give yourself more time”. He said: “You just go full steam ahead into production, usually, and you just don’t take time to breathe and think about your decisions. This project is definitely a learning curve for that.”

“Communication is so key,” added Borsberry, “and giving each other time to kind of interpret how we need to interpret [an idea] and take time on a project as well.”

Time which was, for this project, short, Rachel revealed. “[These movies] were shot on a two-day shoot with virtually no budget and really limited time. There is so much talent in the deaf community and there has to be more opportunities so that you can see those stories,” she said, concluding the evening’s proceedings. “We [Cindy and I] both believe that the TV and film industry would be richer for that.”

The three films will get an online screening in January.

Embedded photos courtesy of Hear Art.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.