Deaf news briefs: SignLight International Film Festival in April; Visual Vernacular Underground Festival in May
We have two quick Deaf news briefs about international art and film-related festivals that will take place here in the USA.
SignLight International Film Festival in April
The first one is the SignLight International Film Festival, which will be hosted in Hollywood, California from April 17 to 20. Deaf actor CJ Jones is the founder and executive director of this festival.
The festival focuses on showcasing the works of Deaf filmmakers worldwide, panel discussions, special guests, workshops, etc. There were 195 filmmakers from 43 countries who submitted films. You can take a look at what films will be shown during the weekend, link is in the transcript.
Based on the program schedule on the website, there will be a meet and greet with Deaf celebrities, selected showcases with people from big company names such as Netflix and DreamWorks, and a red carpet event with an awards ceremony.
This festival also welcomes young adults from middle school and high school kids too as there are some workshops that focus on Deaf youth.
For tickets, there are four options, from purchasing a single-day pass to purchasing a four-day pass. The price ranges from $40 per adult for one day to $120 per adult for four days. The opening night, the red carpet and awards night are separate tickets that you have to purchase as add-ons. We have included a link to the SignLight International Film Festival website for more information.
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Visual Vernacular Underground Festival in May
The second one is a non-profit organization, VV Underground, which will be hosting a first-ever Visual Vernacular (VV) festival in Washington D.C. from May 24th to 25th.
The festival coordinators are Justin Perez, Lisa McBee, and Joel Ortiz. These three are also Deaf VV artists themselves. The VV festival will bring Deaf VV artists from across
the globe and they will be coming from Japan, China, Italy, Brazil, Sweden, and more. Also, I wanted to let you know that I, myself along with another person from Sweden named Florian Tirnovan will be the MCs of this event.
The festival will have VV workshops and performances throughout the day. There will also be a marketplace for art vendors as well. The goal of the festival is to deepen the appreciation of Deaf culture through self-expression, art, and celebration.
There are several options for tickets. The day pass is $80 or $150 for two days. You can also select the VIP option for an added cost. There are also VV workshops for children in different age groups for an added cost as well. You can look at the website for more information and to see the different ticket options. The link is in this transcript.
SIgnLight: https://www.signlightff.org/tickets
VV Underground: https://vvunderground.com/programs/