The Silent Child(2017)

Dear Frankie(en)

Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day...

The Miracle Worker(en)

The true story of the frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness of 7-year-old Helen Keller who, since infancy, has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch, the only tool they have in common, and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.

The Quiet(en)

After her widowed father dies, deaf teenager Dot moves in with her godparents, Olivia and Paul Deer. The Deers' daughter, Nina, is openly hostile to Dot, but that does not prevent her from telling her secrets to her silent stepsister, including the fact that she wants to kill her lecherous father.

Johnny Belinda(en)

A small-town doctor helps a deaf-mute farm girl learn to communicate.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter(en)

Singer is a deaf-mute whose small world brings him in contact with a young girl, Mick, who cherishes a seemingly hopeless dream of becoming a concert pianist. At first hostile, Mick soon becomes friends with Singer, hoping to enlarge his small world. Three other central characters come to Singer for help also, each of them seeing in him a powerful force.

Akeelah and the Bee(en)

11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr. Larabee, she reaches the finals. As she gets to know her fellow competitors, Akeelah realizes that coming first isn't everything in life.

Sound of Metal(en)

Metal drummer Ruben begins to lose his hearing. When a doctor tells him his condition will worsen, he thinks his career and life is over. His girlfriend Lou checks the former addict into a rehab for the deaf hoping it will prevent a relapse and help him adapt to his new life. After being welcomed and accepted just as he is, Ruben must choose between his new normal and the life he once knew.

Wonder(en)

The story of August Pullman – a boy with facial differences – who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.

I Am Sam(en)

Sam, a neurodivergent man, has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations as a parent start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam convinces high-priced lawyer Rita to take his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.

Stutterer(en)

A lonely typographer with a cruel speech impediment but an eloquent inner voice must face his greatest fear.

Ballet Shoes(en)

An unusual explorer named Gum and his kindly niece adopt three orphans -- Pauline, Petrova and Posy -- and raise them as sisters in 1930s London. But the girls must fend for themselves when Gum doesn't return from one of his adventures. Together, they nurture their passions for acting, aviation and ballet in this charming TV adaptation of Noel Streatfield's novel.

Baadasssss!(en)

Director Mario Van Peebles chronicles the complicated production of his father Melvin's classic 1971 film, "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song." Playing his father in the film, Van Peebles offers an unapologetic account of Melvin's brash and sometimes deceptive conduct on the set of the film, including questionable antics like writing bad checks, tricking a local fire department and allowing his son, Mario, to shoot racy sex scenes at the age of 11.

Jack of the Red Hearts(en)

A teenage con artist tricks a desperate mother into hiring her as a live-in companion for her autistic daughter.

Miracle Run(en)

Corinne is a single mother of twin 5-year-old boys, Steven and Phillip, who are diagnosed with autism. Public school officials threaten to remove them from school due to their behavior, but through therapy, the boys are able to make major strides in their capabilities. A decade later, teens Steven and Phillip seek to prove they can handle high school while still struggling with their disorder.

Feeling Through(en)

A late-night encounter on a New York City street leads to a profound connection between a teen-in-need and a DeafBlind man.

Secrets & Lies(en)

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.

Angela's Christmas Wish(en)

A determined Angela makes a wish to reunite her family in time for Christmas, then launches a plan to find her way from Ireland to Australia.

Out of My Mind(en)

Melody Brooks, a sixth grader with cerebral palsy, has a quick wit and a sharp mind, but because she is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair, she is not given the same opportunities as her classmates. When a young educator notices her student's untapped potential and Melody starts to participate in mainstream education, Melody shows that what she has to say is more important than how she says it.

Imagine(en)

A blind teacher breaks the rules to help a female student rediscover the pleasures of life.

Piper(en)

A mother bird tries to teach her little one how to find food by herself. In the process, she encounters a traumatic experience that she must overcome in order to survive.

September(fr)

Judith attempts to work out why her partner appears not to be that interested in her, whilst other men appear to care more.

Fragments(en)

Chloe, a straight talking film director, tries to convince her friend Sam to be an actor in her next short film. Just after finding out that he once again didn’t get into medical school, Sam meets Alex, a hypochondriac 18 year old. A love triangle forms in these self-reflexive, humoristic fragments filled with sex talk , set in New Orleans.

Parent's Night(en)

When a new pupil arrives at a comprehensive school, he decides to take his video camera to film the bullies at work.

Ceremony(fa)

A family is preparing a wedding for one of their family members, and despite having many material problems and having a father in hospital, they are planning to buy coins. To give their families their return as a wedding gift in order to preserve honor in front of the bride's family ...

Sympatico(en)

In the dystopian 2040, a performance artist shots himself dead in front of a live audience. While the extreme act shocks the society, his friend is kidnapped and interrogated as a murder suspect; he has to prove his innocence to survive.

Clothes & Blow(en)

An American voice-over artist in London finds himself questioning his life of hookups and emotional avoidance when he receives an unexpected visit from his mother.

Jobman(en)

Smith, the deaf and dumb son of a rural coloured preacher, refuses to accept the menial labour on offer in the small farming community where he’s grown up. He tries to earn a living in the city, but this ends in assault, and his return home sparks off a cycle of vengeful violence.

The Stranger(ja)

The Thieving Headmistress(en)

A Headmistress steals from her own school. As a young girl Colleen McCabe asks a priest in confessional "What is sin?" Thirty years later she is found out for practising it. An ex-nun,she leaves the convent because she becomes disillusioned with spiritual matters and goes into teaching, being appointed headmistress of the John Rigby School in London. Along with a small coterie of chosen staff members to act as her spies,she misappropriates half a million pounds from school funds which she spends on luxury goods and a trip on the Orient Express. Meanwhile the school suffers,having to use ancient text books and pupils as cleaners. She is tried,although admitted to hospital for depression on the trial day, and sentenced to five years in jail, later reduced to four. The film alternates dramatized scenes of Colleen's misbehaviour with interviews with those who knew her.

Ice(en)

An enigmatic, existential enforcer for a small-time local crime boss does not suffer fools gladly. Unfulfilled and compromised by his life and the pointlessness that surround him, he detaches -- and methodically explores life's transitory nature in a surprising way. ICE is not a brooding film -- with flashes of humor and quirkiness -- it is a film about hope.

The Clown(en)

A man chooses his ambitions and dreams over a future with a family and later finds himself trying to repair the mistakes of his past.

Summer Romance(ja)

This delightful short is a world away from Tomomatsu's later works. It's a lovely story, told well. The reason that I tracked it down is because I'm quite a fan of Alice Sailor's music. She fronts new wave band Amaryllis and I was curious to see her acting. She has frequently supplied theme songs and other music to several of Tomomatsu's films. Indeed, the most disturbing sequence in this movie is accompanied by a psychotic Amaryllis track, 'Haha', and the closing piece is another Amaryllis song, 'Usagi'. This rip comes from the 'Eat The Schoolgirl' DVD, where it was one of the extras. Having just watched the main feature from that disc, I can say with some certainty that I found this tale far more enjoyable.

Habibie & Ainun 3(id)

When she was in high school, Ainun was known as a smart girl and became the target of many male students, including Habibie. In college, Ainun became a popular figure. Ahmad is a man who dared to express his love for Ainun.

Conséquent(es)

Line(ja)

A scheming office janitor devises a plan to have her husband steal from the safe in the president's office. Hiroyuki Nakao directs.

The Sparkling Amber(ja)

The bobbed-head Ryoko is a shy middle school student. She has been living with her dad, just the 2 of them ever since her mother died of an illness. It was in this Aizawa household that 3 months ago, suddenly, that the Kansai dialect wielding Michiko with her hair fastened tightly above her head came in. This is the story of amber of the three whom were like a family and yet not.

One Night Only(en)

A romantic drama about two couples shifting sexual dynamics over one night in a music bar.

Face in the Crowd(en)

A woman on a journey through a crowd grapples with private and public revelation, repulsion, fear, personal safety, and the desire for basic human interaction.

Come Swim(en)

COME SWIM is a diptych of one man's day; half impressionist and half realist portraits.

Hotel Chevalier(en)

In a Paris hotel room, Jack Whitman lies on a bed. His phone rings; it's a woman on her way to see him, a surprise. She arrives and the complications of their relationship emerge in bits and pieces. Will they make love? Is their relationship over? (A prequel to The Darjeeling Limited, 2007.)