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Screening to raise funds for parish
archived from: 2010-03-08
by: Patricia Bartos

Movie tells story of deaf man’s search for understanding

The diocesan Department for Persons With Disabilities will sponsor an area premiere of the movie “Universal Signs” on Sunday, March 21, at 1:30 p.m. at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, 300 E. Swissvale Ave. in Swissvale.

Proceeds will help St. Justin Parish in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood update its assisted-listening system for hard-of-hearing people and install a larger projection unit within the church.

St. Justin, home parish for the Catholic deaf community, has offered the “signed” Mass each Sunday at 11 a.m. for 16 years, drawing people from throughout the area.

The movie, subtitled “Sense the Life Around You,” was completed in 2008 and is regarded as a groundbreaking “silent” film featuring dialogue in American Sign Language with English subtitles.

In total silence, it tells the story of a deaf man’s search for understanding, from his perspective. After his fiancee’s daughter dies while in his care, he shuts himself off from the world in grief and must learn from new friendships to love and trust again.

It is the first movie project of HNH Multimedia Productions near Philadelphia, founded 12 years ago by Ann Calamia and Catherine Miller.

Calamia wrote and directed the movie, with Miller as producer. Oscar winner Joseph Renzetti did the musical score.

It stars Anthony Natale, who appeared in “Mr. Holland’s Opus”; Sabrina Lloyd, who appeared in “Sliders”; and Lupe Ontiveros of “Desperate Housewives.”

Natale is deaf and Ontiveros has two deaf sons. Lloyd learned sign language for the movie.

In the past, deaf viewers would travel up to 300 miles to see a captioned movie, Miller said.

But with improving technology, such captioning of movies is easier.

The filmmakers went to great lengths to time the captioning, making it a cross-cultural experience, with deaf and hearing audiences laughing and crying at the same time, Miller said. They shot it in Philadelphia and Los Angeles in six weeks.

The film entrances both hearing and deaf audiences, according to Miller.

It’s often the hearing audiences who are most responsive. “They find they can’t turn away or they’ll miss the caption,” she said.

Father Walt Rydzon, pastor of St. Justin, agrees. He has seen the movie and calls it “a phenomenal movie for hearing people.”

“It shows the things deaf people do and helps hearing people to understand.”

Clothing, for example, he said, is important. “With signing, solid colors are much easier than stripes or plaids,” which distract from the person’s hands. And lip reading is “extremely difficult to learn.”

He said deaf people do not believe they are handicapped. In the movie, a character meets a deaf man begging at a train station and becomes irritated.

St. Justin parishioners have long welcomed members of the deaf community, many of them taking an active interest in learning sign language.

“It’s kind of amazing when you see all these arms moving during the signed Mass,” Father Rydzon said. “I swear, at least 25 percent of them are hearing people.”

“Universal Signs” draws large audiences where it is shown and has won the Philadelphia Film Festival’s Best Feature Film Audience Award, Hollywood Feel Good Film Festival awards for best actor and actress, and was featured at the Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival.

Calamia and Miller didn’t start out to do a movie on deafness. Calamia’s interest was in “invisible differences,” such as deafness, depression, mental illness — issues that can’t be known just by seeing people.

Calamia’s grandfather was hard of hearing all his life yet was never involved with the deaf community. He never learned sign language and his isolation haunted Calamia.

She knew others with hidden disabilities suffered such isolation, too.

Miller and Calamia self-distribute the movie through their own distribution company. They work with non-profit groups, churches and schools, allowing them to screen the movie and use it as a fund-raiser.

The two are now working on a documentary based on collaboration between the Boston Ballet and the Boston Children’s Hospital, which operate an adapted dance program for children with Down syndrome.

“We seem to be pulled to social justice issues,” Miller said. “It’s not something we set out to do.”

Tickets are $15, $25 or $100, with reservations suggested. Call 412-456-3085 (voice) or 412-381-9825 (TTY) for tickets, or e-mail stewardship@diopitt.org or on the Internet at www.universalsignsmovie.com/pittsburgh.

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