Miss-Delectable
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FilmStew.com Deaf Cinema Jam
This coming Saturday, April 19th, a most unique film festival event will be taking place at the University of Southern Maine. Co-organized by the university and the American Sign Language Club of Maine, the Sixth Annual Deaf Film Festival will present two four-hour blocks of short films made by hearing impaired filmmakers. One of those filmmakers is 25-year-old Wayne Betts Jr. who was inspired at a young age by watching Steven Spielberg’s E.T.. In addition to being the event's keynote speaker, he will also present a pair of films, one of which is the sitcom-y The Deaf Family, which per the university’s Daily Press newspaper pokes all kinds of fun at the deaf experience. Maybe Hollywood could learn a thing or two from this group of artists. For example, one of the entries, Nice N Ezy -about the dangers of taking drugs at nightclubs – lasts all of one minute. That’s right; no ponderous two hours and 40 minutes needed to get the dramatic point across. In some cases, featured short films made by deaf people for deaf people will be translated for the non-deaf members of the audience, rater than the other way around. Though certainly unusual, USM's event is not the only such film festival; other similar festivals have taken place in Chicago and Rotterdam.
This coming Saturday, April 19th, a most unique film festival event will be taking place at the University of Southern Maine. Co-organized by the university and the American Sign Language Club of Maine, the Sixth Annual Deaf Film Festival will present two four-hour blocks of short films made by hearing impaired filmmakers. One of those filmmakers is 25-year-old Wayne Betts Jr. who was inspired at a young age by watching Steven Spielberg’s E.T.. In addition to being the event's keynote speaker, he will also present a pair of films, one of which is the sitcom-y The Deaf Family, which per the university’s Daily Press newspaper pokes all kinds of fun at the deaf experience. Maybe Hollywood could learn a thing or two from this group of artists. For example, one of the entries, Nice N Ezy -about the dangers of taking drugs at nightclubs – lasts all of one minute. That’s right; no ponderous two hours and 40 minutes needed to get the dramatic point across. In some cases, featured short films made by deaf people for deaf people will be translated for the non-deaf members of the audience, rater than the other way around. Though certainly unusual, USM's event is not the only such film festival; other similar festivals have taken place in Chicago and Rotterdam.