Abstract:

This paper presents a case study of two deaf and two hearing students who participated in the Deaf Film Club project. This project's purpose was to present to the staff and students of Palhoça Bilingual Campus of Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina, and the deaf community (users of Brazilian Sign Language) of Florianopolis, film productions made in sign language, or that were made by deaf people or that represented the culture of this linguistic minority. This project goal was to present and discuss deaf film productions to better understand how the deaf appropriate themselves of the film language and use their visual accuracy to represent their culture through film. The methodology for data collection was, at first, carry out research of films of deaf performers or hearing directors representing deaf culture around the world. Subsequently, the most expressive features were selected to the film club sessions. In some cases it was necessary to perform translation and subtitling of films, and produce summaries on video in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). After each session, there was a debate guided by questions about the language, aesthetics and representation of the deaf in the film, as well as discuss the deaf as a creator in the field of art and the importance of the education on film techniques that can give a voice to this minority in popular culture. The discussions were recorded on video for later transcription of the most important topics discussed after the screenings. We perceived that both the deaf and hearing audience are unaware of the productions made by the deaf community and that the Deaf Film Club provided an opportunity for an in-depth discussion on many aspects related to deaf expression and their subjectivity in a bilingual context.

Keywords:

Deaf Film, Subjectivity, Deaf Expression, Deaf Art, Technology.