We are the longest-running Deaf Film Festival. Over the past 20 years, the Maine Deaf Film Festival (MDFF) has been a space for the Deaf community to come together and see Deaf stories, new and old, come to life on the big screen. Hosted by the University of Southern Maine in conjunction with the Department of Linguistics and ASL Club, MDFF aims to bring Deaf stories to a wider audience within the Deaf community and beyond. Learn more about the team this year below.

A close up image of a film camera recording an audience viewing a film. The camera itself fills in most of the image; the audience and film are only visible on the campera's pop-out screen.

Have a film you want to share? Submit it here!

Meet the team for MDFF 2025!

Festival Organizer: Sandra Wood (sandra.wood@maine.edu)

USM ASL Club Co-Presidents: Sydney Garrity & Olive Paternoster

USM ASL Club Treasurer: Emilyn Smith

USM ASL Club Secretary: Chelsea Verria

USM ASL Club Student Engagement Officer: Trish Baird

An illustration from the poster for MDFF 2022. The illustration shows eight sets of human arms making different ASL signs. The arms are arranged into a group circled by another pair of arms. At the top of the image is a quote, "Together we are stronger" and at the bottom is the text "18th Annual Maine Deaf Film Festival 2022".

Check out the archive of previous years’ posters!

Poster Archive
An illustration from the poster for MDFF 2017. The illustration shows a tree on hill against a green background. The tree's leaves are illustrated as the outlines of human hands and the trunk of the tree has the silhouette of the state of Maine drawn into it. The tree's roots are visible in the hill and they spell out "MDFF". The text at the bottom of the image reads "15th Annual Maine Deaf Film Festival".

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