Themed "No Distance Between Us (零距離，看見你)," the 5th Taiwan International Deaf Film Festival - jointly launched by the National Museum of Taiwan Literature and the National Association of the Deaf (CNAD) – will be held virtually from Oct. 2 to 3, featuring eight films from Taiwan, England, America, Japan, to share the lives of the deaf people to the public.
The selected films include "Grandpa's Zongzi (爺爺的粽子)," "Go Home Together After School (以後還可以一起回家嗎？)," "A World of Boisterous Silence (明晴學園的寂樂青春)," "Deaf Jam (手語尬詩)," "Taiwanese Sign Language Poems (臺灣手語詩篇)," "Retreat (隱世)," "The End (終結日)," and "To Know Him (知道他)."
Culture Minister Lee Yung-te expressed his gratitude to the CNAD and staffs of the festival for their continued efforts which contributed to the advancement of cultural equality in Taiwan, allowing more people to gain a better understanding, especially in the post-pandemic era as people start to reflect on their relationships with others.
Through the selected films, we are able to show concern for the people and stories surrounding our daily lives from multiple perspectives, and this matches the theme of the festival, Minister Lee added.
At the press conference on Sep. 22, senior sign language educator and researcher Ku Yu-shan (顧玉山) communicated with deaf children in sign language and explored the culture of the sign language from diversified perspectives such as education, literature, films.
Director of NMTL Su Shuo-bin (蘇碩斌) illustrated that there are few films produced by deaf people due to the talent shortage. Therefore, NMTL founded the Deaf Filmmakers Academy (聾舞影影像學園) in February, and directors Maggie Chang (張瑞容), Hung Chien‐jung (洪健榮), Chang Jung-hsing (張榮興), a professor from the Institute of Linguistics of National Chung Cheng University, were invited to form a training team. The purpose is to train people with hearing disabilities who are interested in video shooting to have the ability in film production.
In addition to the online event, Kayayoko (榧陽子), the principal of Meisei Gakuen School for the Deaf in Japan, and British director Ted Evans are invited to participate in the symposium.
For registration and details, please visit the Taiwan International Deaf Film Festival website.