Hear and Now
8 /10 1 Votes
Director Irene Taylor Brodsky Music director Joel Goodman Duration Country United States | 7.8/10 IMDb Genre Documentary Screenplay Irene Taylor Brodsky Writer Irene Taylor Brodsky | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Language English
American Sign Language Release date 2007 Cast Paul Taylor, Sally Taylor, David Taylor Similar movies Irene Taylor Brodsky directed Hear and Now and The Final Inch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hear and Now is a 2007 documentary film by Irene Taylor Brodsky, winning awards in 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival and the Heartland Film Festival; and garnering a Peabody Award in 2008.
Contents
Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky aims her camera at her own life to capture the remarkable transformation of her deaf parents, who decided to undergo a life-changing procedure to restore their hearing after spending 65 years in silence. Chronicling her parents' experiences over their first year of having sound in their lives, Brodsky tells a deeply personal tale that moved viewers to bestow it with the Documentary Audience Award at Sundance 2007.
Synopsis
The filmmakers parents were both born deaf; and the couple raised children who were not deaf. Paul Taylor and his wife Sally Taylor were in their 60s when they both decided to have cochlear implant surgery, which could permit them to hear for the first time. The documentary follows what turns out to be a complicated journey from the comfortable world of silence to a profoundly challenging world of sounds and language.
The documentary introduces the couples personal histories – childhood years learning to communicate in a special school, experiencing the stigma surrounding deafness in mainstream high schools, and having meaningful careers in the Deaf community at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Paul was a pioneer in development of TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) which is also known as TTY.
The couples filmmaker daughter chronicled these surgeries and the aftermath. The film show some of the short-term consequences, including both expected and unexpected adjustments each would need to make. These two deaf people investigate the sounds and meaning of sounds; but learning what not to hear becomes an equally significant challenge. The camera records quite different reactions as the couple struggles to adjust after living deaf for a lifetime. The effects of the surgeries are not entirely positive.
The film establishes cochlear implant surgery in an intimate family setting rather than the larger context of the Deaf community.
Production
This documentary was co-produced by Vermillion Films and HBO Documentary Films, which reduced the financial risks inherent in the project; and the film was distributed by HBO.
Film festivals
In 2007, Hear and Now won the prize for the Best Documentary at the Heartland Film Festival. At the Sundance Film Festival, the documentary won the Audience Award; and it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.
Similar Movies
Irene Taylor Brodsky directed Hear and Now and The Final Inch. Irene Taylor Brodsky directed Hear and Now and Saving Pelican 895. Irene Taylor Brodsky directed Hear and Now and One Last Hug (and a few smooches) Three Days at Grief Camp. Manda Bala (Send a Bullet) (2007). Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (2007).
Select list of festival entries
References
Hear and Now WikipediaHear and Now IMDb Hear and Now themoviedb.org