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The Herald Scotland
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
'Deaf President Now!' peels back curtain on Deaf culture
That's about to change with new documentary "Deaf President Now!" (streaming now on Apple TV+, home of Oscar-winning film "CODA"). It chronicles the students at the world's only Deaf university, Gallaudet, in 1988, who fought back against the college's decision to hire a hearing president. In its 124-year history, there had only been hearing presidents. The students locked gates. Used buses to block the entrance. Went on national television to air their grievances. All in the name of their community. It's a story co-director Nyle DiMarco, Deaf actor and filmmaker, has wanted to tell for years. Initially, he and producer Jonathan King tried for a scripted version that didn't pan out. "The story of 'Deaf President Now!' was about so much more than just appointing a deaf president," DiMarco says. "It's more complex, more layered and contains much more nuance than what we would have been able to provide within a scripted format. And because it didn't lend itself to really telling the story the way that we needed to, we brought it to (co-director Davis Guggenheim), who immediately said, 'No, no, no, this has to be a doc.'" And so it became one - one that everyone, from Deaf people to hearing people to today's student protesters, ought to give a watch. 'They were able to overcome those internal conflict' Guggenheim, who is a hearing person, felt like he was pretty informed about the Deaf community when he signed on to the project. "Now, two years later, I feel even more ignorant than when I started," he says, "meaning it's a beautiful, complex world that I'm just a visitor in, and Nyle has been so generous to sort of invite me in." That collaboration will mean a unique viewing experience for the audience; for hearing people, that means they will appreciate sound like a deaf person might. By vibration, for example. "Growing up Deaf, a lot of people have this assumption that we have no relationship or interaction with sound whatsoever," DiMarco explains, "but that's not true. It's not entirely lacking in our world. We just experience it in a different way." Appreciating differences is a key throughline in the documentary. Watching the film, one can't help but compare it to other college campus protests, stretching from the Vietnam War to the current war between Israel and Gaza. "When we were editing the movie, on one screen would be our characters in 1988 and then on the TV over here was, protests at Columbia and UCLA and and it was a striking, striking contrast," Guggenheim says. The students profiled in the film, for example - Jerry Covell, Greg Hlibok, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl and Tim Rarus - didn't all get along. But they still managed to fight for a common goal. "They were able to overcome those internal conflicts and those differences of opinions and work together every day until they got what they wanted," DiMarco says. 'I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be': Nyle DiMarco talks Deaf, queer culture in 'Deaf Utopia' memoir 'I don't think there's any one right way to be Deaf' Not only did the protests lead to the resignation of the appointed president, Elisabeth Zinser, but also the stepping down of Jane Bassett Spilman, chair of the board of trustees of the university. Ultimately, the students do see their Deaf president in I. King Jordan, then a dean. But not before they grew angry at him for switching back and forth between siding with students, then the university. Jordan became deaf as a 21-year-old in an automobile accident. "He's sort of bordering between these two worlds. And there's a moment where, he says, 'I never really felt, you know, completely home in one place or the other.' And as I always say, I don't think there's any one right way to be Deaf," DiMarco says. 'I am not ashamed': Disability advocates, experts implore you to stop saying 'special needs' You're 'not powerless' What should people take away from the film? Well, a lot. The significance, for starters. "This protest alone gave rise to the passage of the ADA, major American federal legislation which serves to protect and provide rights to over 80% of the American population," DiMarco says. "So we are very big contributors to our history, you know, and I would hope that they would see that we're no longer second last class citizens." Gallaudet has had a Deaf president ever since. Guggenheim hopes people consider it in the context of today's divisive politics: "I think there are a lot of people right now who are seeing big, big changes to our political landscape, and they're feeling powerless. And I hope people watch this movie and realize that they're not powerless." And don't forget, there's strength in numbers. DiMarco adds, "I think you'll be surprised when you do start speaking up, just how many people you'll find in your corner behind you."
Washington Post
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
‘Deaf President Now!' amplifies the birth of a rights movement
The events depicted in 'Deaf President Now!' — a documentary revisiting the 1988 protest by students at Gallaudet University that led to the selection of the school's first deaf president in its 124-year history — may seem, in the scheme of things, like an incremental advancement for representation in the deaf community. But in this stirring telling by co-directors Nyle DiMarco, producer of the Oscar-nominated 2021 documentary short 'Audible,' and Davis Guggenheim, director of the Oscar-winning 2006 documentary feature 'An Inconvenient Truth,' the achievement lands with the force of the first salvo in a revolution.
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Wild Robot to Deaf President Now! The seven best films to watch on TV this week
Chris Sanders's delightful family animation attains Wall-E levels of poignancy in its tale of a shipwrecked robot that learns how to feel. Washed up on a remote island populated only by animals, service unit Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) finds it has no one to serve. That is until it falls on to a goose's nest, killing all its occupants apart from runt of the litter Brightbill (Kit Connor) – who imprints on Roz as his mother. Assisted by Pedro Pascal's cynical fox Fink, the ever helpful machine reprogrammes itself to rear the gosling well enough so he can migrate with the other geese. The Disney-style anthropomorphising is a bit overdone, but it's a film full of warmth and wit. Friday 23 May, 9.10am, 6.10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere Set during one week in 1988, Davis Guggenheim and Nyle DiMarco's revelatory documentary follows an era-defining protest at Gallaudet University in Washington DC – at the time the only deaf higher education institution in the world. When the students discovered a hearing person had been chosen as their new president over deaf candidates, they locked down the campus until the decision was changed. The activists interviewed impress with their zeal for self-determination in a film cleverly designed so that hearing audiences are immersed in a deaf world. Out now, Apple TV+ Andrea Arnold brings earthy conviction to her 2011 adaptation of Emily Brontë's smouldering classic. This is the first version that makes overt the latent suggestion that Heathcliff is African Caribbean, emphasising the transgressive (for the times) nature of his love for Catherine. It's a heavy, passionate, at times brutal rendering of the wild moorland romance – almost an anti-costume drama. Shannon Beer and Kaya Scodelario are convincing as the young and grownup Cathy, while Solomon Glave and James Howson share the crucial role of the tempestuous Heathcliff. Sunday 18 May, 12.55am, Film4 As ever when that wrecking ball of creative energy, Spike Lee, goes historical, the present-day resonances are clear and central. His biopic of political activist Malcolm X (a charismatic Denzel Washington) starts with footage of the beating of Rodney King and ends with a cameo from Nelson Mandela, but there's plenty in the personal experience of the robber turned Black nationalist leader to excite interest and anger. A story of idealism nurtured then thwarted, whether you agree with Malcolm's views or not it's a fitting tribute to a major figure in US history. Monday 19 May, 11pm, BBC Two Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion Interspersed with words taken from her own unpublished memoir and a trove of home movie footage, Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill's candid documentary gets as close to the 'bohemian rock chick' Anita Pallenberg as we're probably going to get. She blazed a trail from impoverished Italian aristocracy to feted New York model to lover of three Rolling Stones, retaining her independent spirit through fame, hard drugs and motherhood, mesmerising everyone she met. Tuesday 20 May, 10pm, Sky Arts The Who's bombastic rock opera album gets the bombastic celluloid treatment it deserves courtesy of – who else? – British cinema's wild man Ken Russell. Singer Roger Daltrey plays Tommy, a boy who loses his sight, hearing and speech after witnessing his mother's adultery. But the traumatised kid shows a talent for pinball that inspires a messianic movement. The film has dated badly in places, but for sheer chutzpah and verve there's little that compares to it – from Tina Turner's devilish Acid Queen to Elton John and his sky-high boots as the Pinball Wizard. Wednesday 21 May, 7.55am, Sky Cinema Greats After getting sacked from his supermarket job, young LA punk Otto (Emilio Estevez) finds himself working with Harry Dean Stanton's repo man – a low-rent operator who repossesses cars from those in debt. However, one car on their list, a Chevy Malibu, has something glowing and deadly in the boot … Writer-director Alex Cox pays homage to Kiss Me Deadly's MacGuffin in his TexMex road movie cum sci-fi thriller, but adds a scuzzy edge all his own as the protagonists tour a run-down city rife with drugs and crime. Thursday 22 May, 12.35am, Sky Cinema Greats
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
‘We're building a deaf empire, making things rather than waiting for Hollywood to greenlight them'
The Deaf President Now protest was a key moment in American civil rights, deaf empowerment and disability advocacy. The student-led action at Gallaudet University, in Washington, DC, in 1988 resulted in the appointment of the first deaf president of the world's only third-level institution designed for deaf students. Decades later, Nyle DiMarco, a deaf activist who has blazed a trail as an actor, author and film-maker – not to mention the first deaf winner of the US version of Dancing with the Stars – set out to make a movie about the thrilling standoff between students and university authorities. He pitched the idea to Jonathan King, producer of the Oscar -winning film Spotlight . 'He didn't know about this movement at all, which is pretty common, considering 90 per cent of Americans still don't know about it,' DiMarco says. 'We approached two writers – one hearing, one deaf – and together they put together a script. READ MORE 'After the first pass we really weren't satisfied. After the second it felt even less like what it should be – because the movement isn't just about a deaf president: it's representative of centuries and centuries of oppression and discrimination. How could we possibly compact that into a modern-day narrative feature?' Enter Davis Guggenheim , the film-maker behind the documentaries Waiting for Superman, He Named Me Malala , Still – about Michael J Fox , the Back to the Future and Family Ties star, and his battle with Parkinson's disease – and the Academy Award-winner An Inconvenient Truth , persuaded DiMarco that Deaf President Now! should also be a documentary. 'I grew up in Washington, DC,' Guggenheim, who became the film's codirector, says. 'The protests happened several miles away. I knew about Gallaudet University. But I didn't know about these protests – or maybe I knew and forgot. 'If you're deaf this story is part of your culture, part of your story. The fact that the hearing world has essentially moved on and neglected these protests is an injustice. I just felt it was important to help Nyle tell the story.' Deaf President Now!: Jane Bassett Spilman (left) and Dr Elisabeth Zinser (centre) The protests were triggered by the decision of the university – whose charter was signed by Abraham Lincoln, as US president, in 1864 – to appoint a hearing president, Dr Elisabeth Zinser, over two deaf candidates, Dr Irving King Jordan and Dr Harvey Corson. Zinser didn't even know American Sign Language – which, with written English, is one of Gallaudet's two official languages. [ Tinseltown loses its lustre: the home of American cinema is hanging on by a thread Opens in new window ] Jane Bassett Spilman, chair of the university's trustees, compounded the rising anger by insisting that 'deaf people are not ready to function in a hearing world'. When a protester set off a fire alarm, Spilman complained to the crowd, 'It's awfully difficult to talk above this noise.' 'It's really mind-blowing,' DiMarco says. 'That attitude very much still exists and is very prevalent, but, yeah, it's unbelievable. Even though Zinser didn't say that the deaf people aren't ready to function in the hearing world, she certainly behaved like she did.' For eight days students barricaded campus entrances, locked gates and took to the streets. Rallies spearheaded by the Gallaudet activists Greg Hlibok, Bridgetta Bourne, Jerry Covell and Tim Rarus received national coverage. The documentary, whose release coincides with a US-wide crackdown on campus protests , offers an exemplary blueprint for civil disobedience. 'My children are in college, and it's hard to generalise about people,' Guggenheim (who is married to the actor Elisabeth Shue ) says. 'But I love that the people in our film are listening to each other. They don't always like each other. But there's compassion, listening and soul-searching among each of these characters. I think that's a great lesson right now, when people are so dug in and convinced of their righteousness.' During the Deaf President Now campaign, protesters demanded the resignations of Zinser and Spilman, the appointment of a deaf president and the reconstitution of the board to include a majority of deaf trustees. Deaf President Now!: director and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco Jordan, a graduate of Gallaudet, and a dean there at the time, was appointed the university's first deaf president after the protests. Rather than being born deaf, he lost his hearing after a motorbike crash; he signs and speaks during the documentary. Some of his fellow contributors question his deaf credentials. 'That was one of our goals,' DiMarco says. 'So often in the hearing world, people look at the deaf community and think that we're all these precious angels who get along. But we have opinions and very different perspectives. 'Throughout the protests you really see that it was successful despite those internal conflicts, that those are such a normal part of protest. I think it speaks to the environment that we're in today. With different viewpoints and perspectives, we can come together, speak truth to power and make change happen.' Guggenheim says he learned important lessons from Fox, his former documentary subject. 'When I was growing up you'd see these movies of the week about someone with a disability. You'd hear violins. 'Amazing that little Johnny can tie his shoes. How precious and noble.' When I worked with Michael J Fox he said, 'No violins!'' The director has form in this respect. In He Named Me Malala he allowed Malala Yousafzai , the female-education activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17, and her family to narrate their story from a Pakistani perspective. He studiously swerved a white-saviour narrative in Waiting for Superman, a critique of marginalised experiences of the American public-education system. Deaf President Now!: directors Davis Guggenheim and Nyle DiMarco The themes of Deaf President Now required particular cultural sensitivities. 'When you watch the movie you say, 'I would never be this terrible person doing terrible things to this other group of people',' he says. 'What I've learned making the movie is that these very well-intentioned people can still impede progress. 'My mantra making this picture was: Don't be Spilman. There were moments when I caught myself and thought, 'Oh shit: I'm just driving forward like another hearing person.' I had to stop and reflect every day.' The film is peppered with examples of 'good intentions' dating back to Alexander Graham Bell. In the late 19th century the inventor of the telephone, whose wife and mother were deaf, championed oralism, the belief that deaf people should learn to speak and lip-read rather than use sign language. 'It was a matter of taking the history of oppression that is ingrained into the deaf experience and finding that balance,' DiMarco says. 'We had to explain some of the history to know how we ended up at this boiling point in 1988. We needed to show the rise of deaf identity and to paint a picture of why deaf people were so angry. They had had enough.' With Deaf President Now! we had over 40 deaf folks behind the camera. If the goal is really to see those stories being told authentically, that starts when we're hiring — Nyle DiMarco In 2022 Coda became the first film with a predominantly deaf cast to win the Oscar for best picture. But, save for a tiny number of movies – notably Her Socialist Smile, the documentary about Helen Keller from 2020 – deaf people remain significantly underrepresented on screen. Eight years ago DiMarco founded Clerc Studio , a production company dedicated to elevating the narratives of deaf and disabled people. 'It really comes down to having representation behind the camera,' he says. 'When we watch films about deaf folks we can tell if it's done by a hearing person. It's really important for Hollywood to do their homework. We don't want to encourage stories being told about us without us.' His documentaries include Audible , about football players at Maryland School for the Deaf, which was nominated for best documentary short at the Academy Awards in 2022, and Deaf U , about contemporary students at Gallaudet. 'With Deaf U, over 50 per cent of our crew came from the deaf community,' he says. 'With Deaf President Now! we had over 40 deaf folks behind the camera. If the goal is really to see those stories being told authentically, that starts when we're hiring. 'I often joke that we're building a deaf empire, making things rather than waiting for Hollywood to greenlight them. And once we have those stories, I think Hollywood is going to be really upset that they missed out.' Deaf President Now! is on Apple TV+ from Friday, May 16th
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Deaf President Now! review – stirring record of student protest
'It's awfully difficult to talk above this loud noise,' says the chair of the board of trustees at a liberal arts university. It's the late 1980s, protesting students have shut down the campus and now, midway through a tense meeting, someone has set off the fire alarm. But here's the thing, Gallaudet University in Washington DC is the world's first deaf university. The students can have a conversation just fine with the alarms blaring – in sign language. But trustee chair Jane Bassett Spilman does not sign. In fact, she appears to be completely ignorant about deaf culture – and, dressed like a Margaret Thatcher lookalike, all handbags and helmet hair, she is the easy-to-loathe villain of this fascinating documentary. Co-directed by actor and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco with Davis Guggenheim, this is the story of an eight-day student protest at Gallaudet in 1988. Trouble started when the board, led by Spilman, appointed a hearing person as the university's president, over two deaf candidates. The film's heroes are the four students who led the uprising: Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Jerry Covell, Greg Hlibok and Tim Rarus; they entertainingly interviewed here. With a blend of archive footage and re-enactments the film-makers skilfully recreate the urgency, passion and energy of their protest. In the end, the students won and Gallaudet appointed its first ever deaf president, I King Jordan. Fascinating, too, is the shift in attitudes. What Spilman and her cronies represented was an old mindset that deafness was something to be fixed, that deaf people needed to helped; the students had grown up with that audism. One former student describes being smacked with a ruler at school if he signed, another explains that his deaf grandfather told him not to sign in public. But their generation were done with it. Their energy and spirit of resistance are glorious. Deaf President Now! is on Apple TV+ from 16 May.
