The Song of Sparrows

Ode to Pablo

July 2019 •English

Pablo and one of the boys, who first taunted and teased him, strike up an unlikely rapport over Pablo’s headphones. Their brief encounter quickly gets complicated. Ode to Pablo is a rare glimpse into the world of a queer, deaf Latino who’s learned to deal with bigoted preconceptions about who he is.

Babe

July 1995 •English

Babe is a little pig who doesn't quite know his place in the world. With a bunch of odd friends, like Ferdinand the duck who thinks he is a rooster and Fly the dog he calls mum, Babe realises that he has the makings to become the greatest sheep pig of all time, and Farmer Hogget knows it. With the help of the sheep dogs, Babe learns that a pig can be anything that he wants to be.

L'Île

July 2009 •French

Mic, partially deaf and injured after a robbery, is abandoned by his accomplice in an unidentified forrest. A young woman, acting strangely is then going to take care of him, although difficulties of communication separate the two individuals, each of them appearing to live in a world of his own.

Tess

October 1979 •English

A strong-willed peasant girl is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line, but is left traumatised from her experiences.

That Sounds Good

June 2010 •Thai

A journey with two girls, one guy, and their complicated love triangle through the magnificent landscapes of three countries: Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

Dear Frankie

May 2004 •English

Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...

Earth and Ashes

May 2004 •Pashto

Elderly Dastaguir and his newly deaf 5-year-old grandson Yassin hitchhike and walk, but mostly walk, as they make their way to the coal mine where Dastaguir's son Murad works. Dastaguir must tell Murad that the rest of their family were all killed in a recent bomb attack.

Her Love Boils Bathwater

October 2016 •Japanese

A strict, but caring mother has an awakening when she is told she has cancer and it is terminal. She has a few months. She needs to complete her tasks in that short time frame.

Forbidden to See Us Scream in Tehran

September 2020 •English

The frontwoman for an Iranian death metal band risks everything as she plots to call the cops on her own underground concert in the hopes that the raid will help her secure her asylum in another country.

Teach Me How to Love The Creatures Outside of My Room

March 2023 •Indonesian

Alma, a beautiful girl who didn’t get the chance to hear how chaos the world is since she was born. Her mother then bought a hearing device for Alma hoping she would love the idea of sound. She got it wrong. It wasn’t just that she couldn’t hear, she wasn’t being heard. By a poetry in her room, she asks her shadows about love she has to the universe.

Yoosuf

Invalid date •Divehi

Follows the trials of Yoosuf, a deaf man from rural origins as he falls in love and begins a life with a city girl.

Small, Slow But Steady

December 2022 •Japanese

A hearing-impaired woman with dreams of becoming a professional boxer due to the pandemic is threatened closure of her boxing club and the illness of its ageing president, who has been her biggest supporter, push her to the limit.

It's All Gone Pete Tong

September 2004 •English

Its All Gone Pete Tong is a comedy following the tragic life of the legendary Frankie Wilde. The story takes us through Frankie's life from being one of the best DJs alive, through a subsequent battle with a hearing disorder, culminating in his mysterious disappearance from the scene.

Children of a Lesser God

September 1986 •English

Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds meets Sarah Norman, a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. In spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state, a romance slowly develops between the pair.

Beyond Silence

December 1996 •German

Beyond Silence is about a family and a young girl’s coming of age story. This German film looks into the lives of the deaf and at a story about the love for music. A girl who has always had to translate speech into sign language for her deaf parents yet when her love for playing music grows strong she must decide to continue doing something she cannot share with her parents.

Two in Love

October 1965 •Russian

Sergei, an aspiring musician, accidentally meets a deaf-mute girl, Natasha, and falls in love with her. He has to change a lot to prepare himself for a new relationship with a different and very vulnerable person. Natasha is like an alien or an alieness with whom Sergei has to find a completely new language to speak. Natasha tries hard to understand his musical world. The problem is that Natasha lost her hearing during the war and associates sounds with fear and pain. Even a symphony concert is torture for her.

Hasat Zamanı

December 2023 •Turkish

Earth Crying

May 2002 •Thai

Set in Isaan, this is the story of a mother who struggles to lead her needy family through seemingly endless hardships and pressures. To help the family survive, the father endures greedy capitalists who heartlessly take advantage of him and his family, forcing him to slave at the harvest of an infertile field. That is until he loses both his arms. Then all the burdens fall on the mother: bread-winning, taking care of her crippled husband and raising the kids, all amid external pressures from drought to vile businessmen.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

November 1927 •English

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

Taciturno

August 2020 •Portuguese