Dream of the Deaf, Let's Fly
it all started in September 2010. The Hong Kong Association of the Deaf, Asian People's Theatre Festival Society and Hong Kong Arts Centre, hand in hand with many Deaf organisations, staged the first ever Hong Kong International Deaf Film Festival in Asia. We started the Festival with the financial support of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council with a strong determination and belief in equal opportunity and embracing diversity.
During the several years of exploration and experiments, we have gone through various debates on Deaf Cinema. Should a film be show if it only has oral dialogues but no signs and does not convey any Deafhood messages? Should a film which is commercial and is dealing with deafness be included in the Festival? The Festival has been a search for Deaf culture which is extremely rich. What are the differences between being Deaf and deaf? How shall we identify Cinema of Deafhood and cinema which treats deafness as a kind of illness? Deaf members and the Hearing members on the organising committee of the Festival worked together sometimes with sign interpretation but always with trust. The First Hong Kong International Deaf Film Festival screened European and American Deaf films and with a few from Mainland China. Now there are many films from South East Asia, North and South America, Middle East, India, and Spain. We should announce also the good news that the Hong Kong Arts Development Council has decided to support the 6th and the 7th Festival. And we look forward to the Deaf films from many other countries. The Deaf films from different countries do have their similarities though they are also very much diversified. Programmes 1 and 2 portray the family and daily life of the Deaf, similar yet diversified. Programme 3 is a collection of animated films, comedies, full of absurdity and imagination. Programme 4 is a series of suspense and thriller films. Programme 5 brings us documentaries, history, and true stories of the Deaf ; and programme 6 is related to the dreams of the Deaf.
After years of screening, we this time proudly present also the First Hong Kong International Conference on Deaf Cinema. We have invited Deaf directors/ filmmakers, Festival curators, as well as representatives from the Hearing community knowledgeable in Deaf Cinema from South East Asia, India, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, as well as Hong Kong, to discuss together the past, present and future of Deaf Cinema.
The Fifth Hong Kong International Deaf Film Festival is taking off, kindly be seated!
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| 4 Malaysia Deaf : Luqman Sujak, Dino Hassan, Mutharasapan Lakshmanan,and Farhan Kamarzaman. |
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| Arts Centre, Hong Kong. |
Presentation and discussion with important promoters of Deaf film in different countries, about organising Deaf film festival and the development of Deaf film in Asia.
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| Nuruloyun : Organizer of Malaysia silentSHOUT Festival (Malaysia) Luqman Sujak : Deaf Film Director & Filmmaker of pekareka.com Nethaneal Enson : Deaf Film Director & VFX Artist at KRU Studios. |
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| Programme 3 : Another Side of the World Director : Luqman Sujak (Full Deaf) Malaysian |
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| Programme 4 : Who Is the One Behind? Director : Siew Chee Choong (Full Deaf) Malaysian |
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| At Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong. |
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| Kita berselfie tangkap gambar lepas solat Jumaat. |
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| At Morrison Hill, Hong Kong, China. |
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| At Santo Antonio, Macau, China. |
