Though Hollywood is often praised as a place where everyone’s story has a shot at making it on the big screen, the reality is that certain voices are given more attention than others. This is particularly true when it comes to those who don’t communicate by traditional means. Though deaf representation in film and television has gotten better over the years with work like “Sound of Metal” and the Best Picture-winning “CODA,” non-hearing actor and producer Emilio Insolera believes there’s still a lot more work to be done. Not only is signing not featured in many projects, but the captions that accompany many media pieces aren’t always correct or designed with the deaf community in mind.
To combat these issues, as well as build a hub for hearing and non-hearing audiences to seek out the work of deaf filmmakers and forge community, Insolera has established the Deaf Movie Database. Similar to IMDb, the site hosts information on a plethora of films and TV, but is focused around elevating deaf talent, from actors and writers to even directors and producers. Speaking in a recent interview with IndieWire, Insolera said the impetus for this project came from his own desire for greater accessibility, whether that be to better closed captioning or more opportunities for deaf filmmakers.
“They don’t really provide a lot of accurate information,” Insolera said of how streamers don’t really fully cater to the non-hearing. “Of course they do hit the deaf community, but it’s not great, so with the films we would want at least a couple minutes of signing. There’s no deaf films that are more than a few minutes out of like a regular two hour movie.”
Insolera believes there is a “broken gap” between even just regular movies and deaf people being able to watch them, a fact which Deaf Movie Database aims to correct. Currently the site is not only organized by Titles, but visitors can also sort through options based on non-hearing participants involved in the production or even the percentage of sign-language offered throughout any particular piece.
“There is a long way to go because there’s movies and some film festivals that deaf people host, so I can gather more information there and share information as well,” said Insolera. “Another thing is, just trying to measure data.”
He added later, “We’re trying to separate the hearing and the deaf, so it’s clear who did what, and also as far as the static changes, making an account of the deaf person involved — which will be many — and of course, build community with all of the deaf facets that are there. We don’t want other people to be taking this from them and taking those opportunities from them.”
As part of building that community, Insolera has also dedicated a section of the site to career opportunities that features cast and crew calls for deaf talent. A separate module under the label Community also offers information on festivals, the latest reviews of deaf films, and a forum for people to meet and collaborate. And though there’s already plenty to cull through, Insolera teased that there’s still more to come.
“I want it to be broader. I want it to be bigger,” he said. “I want it to touch the hearing community, which is large. I want a balance to be there.”
Even more than this, Insolera wants Hollywood and those who make film and TV writ-large to understand that the deaf community still has more stories to tell and need to be given the space to do so as they see fit. From the very beginnings of filmmaking, with Charlie Chaplin finding fame during the silent era through the use of miming, cinema has relied on more than just sound. And Insolera believes there’s still more to explore in that range.
“Sign language is a very visual language,” Insolera told IndieWire. “You can think about anyone that signs or anyone that uses their hands and gestures, but we are a society in a system that runs and we end up depending on speaking or depending on signing and maybe it would be best to broaden the horizons of communication with people all over the environment because with deaf films it showcases the side of a visual language, a visual community.”
Insolera isn’t sure the Deaf Movie Database will “lead to the answers” needed to fix the disparities between hearing and non-hearing people in entertainment, but creating a resource for everyone to learn more about deaf contributions to the medium is an important first step.
Visit the Deaf Movie Database at deafmovie.org.
Source link