Hear and Now

Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky
Screenwriters: Irene Taylor Brodsky

Institute History

Description

After 65 years of silence, Paul and Sally Taylor decide to undergo cochlear implant surgery and explore a totally unfamiliar world—the realm of sound. In this deeply personal memoir, filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky documents her deaf parents' complex decision to undergo a risky and controversial medical procedure—the only one that can actually restore a sense.

Paul and Sally met as children, fell in love, were married, and raised a family. They've shared a rich life together and have been active and accomplished members of the deaf community. Yet, at the age of 65, they decided they wanted to hear their first symphonies, to hear their children's voices; they wanted simply—to hear.

How will this operation transform them: their relationship with each other and their sense of identity within a deaf world they are leaving behind? Hear and Now invites us into the private world of the deaf and allows us to experience everyday sounds as if for the first time. This is a magical and deeply moving story of two people who embark on an extraordinary journey from silence to sound. The question is, what will they make of it, and what may they gain, or lose, forever?

— David Courier

Screening Details

Sundance Film Festival Awards

Credits

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