Living with hearing loss is seldom addressed in film, but when a new documentary premiered last week – Heard, by Vancouver cinematographer Brian Ceci – there was an excited buzz in the local hearing loss community.
How often do we get to “see ourselves” on film?
Heard is an exploration of Ceci’s relationship with his lifelong hearing loss, stemming from a sense of isolation driving a search for community. The open-captioned documentary features people across the deaf and hearing loss spectrum, highlighting their hard-fought confidence in identities that include those who use spoken language, Deaf Culture and signed language, and people who communicate in both languages.
As a filmmaker, Brian doesn’t try to tie things up in neat packages. The emotions in Heard can be raw and by the end, it’s clear that Brian is still working out where he ‘belongs’. This is a question he knows he must answer for himself and he’s on that journey.
The film’s open emotions struck a chord in audience members, many of whom had never seen their experiences reflected on film. In fact, some had never met anyone else with hearing loss. As the credits rolled, Heard got a rousing ovation. I moderated an onstage Q & A with the film’s key participants who talked about the experience of making a film (two years have passed since filming wrapped) about hearing loss and being Deaf. I found it interesting that all of the film’s subjects are artists of some sort – painting, music and crafting and, in Brian Ceci’s case, photography.
Lately, more feature films have featured characters who are Deaf such as Coda, A Quiet Place and Sound of Metal. Advocates like me who use spoken language and assistive technology, by far the largest segment of the hearing loss/deaf population, are often frustrated by our lack of media representation. Our hearing loss seems to lack the ‘sexy’ or romantic allure that the visual, emotional beauty of sign language holds for hearing people.
In A Star is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, Cooper’s musician character has hearing loss. In a conversation with Gaga’s character, he says pardon and she repeats herself. That one simple moment, in no way visually stunning, that’s what being hard of hearing is like.
Another documentary, focusing on the hearing loss/spoken language experience, is We Hear You: Now Hear Us, by my hearing loss advocacy colleagues Shari Eberts, Roxana Rotundo and Holly Cohen. Filmed during the pandemic, these women and a fourth, Toni Iacolucci, powerfully share their experiences and insights.
These documentaries and feature films allow us to see our lives reflected, even if just slivers of it, offering us the gift of validation. Beyond simple entertainment, the documentaries are opportunity for our families and friends to better understand the reality of our lives and what it takes to communicate with hearing loss in a hearing world.
More information on Heard is available on Brian Ceci’s website.
We Hear You can be viewed on YouTube.
Photo taken by Gael Hannan at the premiere of Heard.
