From a Gallaudet University press release:In recognition of excellence in deaf filmmaking, Gallaudet will hold its first WORLDEAF Cinema Festival from November 4 to 7, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
The festival will include professional and student film competitions, with cash awards and a Hollywood-style awards show. Other events will celebrate past and present accomplishments as well as promote interaction among industry representatives, filmmakers, and audience participants.
"The WORLDEAF Cinema festival provides a way to celebrate the men and women, both deaf and hearing, who have captured in film the essence of the deaf experience,
and I am thrilled to be a part of it," said the festival's honorary chair, Marlee Matlin, an Academy Award-winning actress and a Gallaudet trustee. Matlin will also receive the first WORLDEAF Cinema Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The festival will spotlight the international dimension of deaf cinema and the diversity of the world's deaf and hard of hearing communities. It will also promote interaction between industry representatives and the festival registrants through keynote speakers, panel discussions, film screenings, and community forums."Gallaudet University is honored to serve as host to the WORLDEAF Cinema Festival and to share in the excitement and acclaim it will bring to this medium,” said President Davila. “This festival will highlight the depth and breadth of the achievements that have been made in the industry, and the profound impact they have made on the lives of deaf and hard of hearing people throughout the world."
The event will kick off with a keynote speech by Dr. Carol Padden, an associate dean at the University of California, San Diego, and an internationally renowned scholar. Festival attendees can view classic and new productions in deaf cinema, browse
industry-related exhibits, and learn about vlogging. The festival will close with a red carpet, star-studded WORLDEAF Cinema Awards ceremony that will pay homage to cinematic innovators, past and present, with WORLDEAF Awards for Excellence, as well as outstanding achievement.
Conference organizers are soliciting new work from both professional and student filmmakers (entries must have been created after 2006). Juried cash awards will be
presented for outstanding feature, documentary, and short films. In keeping with the ground-breaking nature of the WORLDEAF Cinema Festival, submissions are also invited from creators of vlogs.
"We are excited to be able to stimulate new work by offering substantial cash awards," says Dr. Jane Norman, festival producer and director, and a professor in the Department of Communication Studies. "The festival will also promote opportunities in deaf cinema because registrants will be able to network and pursue distribution
opportunities in the mainstream film industry."