Nepalese Filmmakers Travel to Maine for Second Annual Maine
Deaf Film Festival
May 7, 2004
Producer Krishna Prashad Shrestha and screenwriter Dev Raj
Gurung will travel more than 7,200 miles to attend the second
annual Maine Deaf Film Festival hosted by the University of
Southern Maine on Saturday, May 22. The two will be on hand
for the first U.S. screening of their award-winning film,
"Golden Rays," a short film about Nepalese Deaf culture.
The daylong festival will include more than 40 international
films by Deaf writers, producers, directors and actors from
a number of European and Asian countries. Highlights include:
a spoof of Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs," called "Reservoir
Wolves," that proves wielding a gun while signing is feasible.
Other films include "Skye" a 70s style musical complete with
hipsters, funk music, and disco; and a youth-oriented film
called "Alice and the Aurifactor," in which Alice confronts
an evil sorcerer bent on world domination.
The event is co-sponsored by the USM Linguistics Department
and the USM American Sign Language Club, with the support
of the USM Board of Student Organizations and a variety of
local Deaf community groups. Event organizers include USM
Lecturers Guillaume Chastel, Roxanne Baker, and Lecturer Brenda
Schertz of the Linguistics Department, and several sign language
students who work locally with the Deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Organizer David Crespo explains, "These films are all subtitled
in English, since sign language differs from country to country,
and even within countries there are different variations.
The event brings to Maine films from Japan, Australia, France,
Norway, Israel, India, and the U.S., allowing the Deaf community
the first opportunity to see many of them."
The festival will be held in two sessions from 1-5 p.m. and
6-10 p.m. on May 22, in the Science Building on the USM Portland
campus. Tickets are $10 per session or $15 for both, if purchased
before May 20. Ticket prices for students, senior citizens,
and children ages 6-17, are $7 for one or $12 dollars for
both sessions, if purchased before May 20. Tickets are available
at the USM Woodbury Campus Center Student Involvement Desk,
by phone through the Maine Center on Deafness at 797-7656
or 1-800-639-3884 (voice or TTY), and by mail at DFF c/o ASL
Lab, 68 High St., Portland ME. 04102. Checks should be made
payable to ASL Club Deaf Film Festival.
For more information contact: David Crespo
Tel: 207-761-0362 (voice)
Email: deaffilmfest@yahoo.com
Roxanne Baker Tel: 207-799-1394 (TTY/Relay)
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