Dove siete Io sono qui

A deaf man rebels against his controlling mother by dating a high-school drop-out who shares his disability.

Dove siete? Io sono qui (also known as Where Are You? Im Here) is a 1993 Italian drama film directed by Liliana Cavani.

The film entered the 50th Venice International Film Festival, where Anna Bonaiuto won the Volpi Cup for best supporting actress. For her role Chiara Caselli was awarded with a Nastro dArgento for Best Actress and a Grolla doro in the same category.

Fausto (Gaetano Carotenuto) is a deaf boy who has been trained from birth to live exclusively in the hearing world. His mother (Anna Bonaiuto) has refused to allow him to meet or interact with other deaf children, much less learn sign language. As a consequence, he gets along (with some difficulties) in the hearing world; he holds a job at a bank, and has a "normal" girlfriend. His mother cannot or will not see that despite his "success," Fausto still feels like a second-class citizen since he will always be somewhat disadvantaged among the hearing. His spirits are boosted when he meets a girl (Chiara Caselli) who has dropped out of school; he is able to persuade her to return to school, and he is able to persuade the school board that she knows enough to sit for her final exams with her classmates. Eventually this sense of accomplishment enables him to win a victory of his own over his iron-willed mother.