Toronto International Deaf Film & Arts Festival May 27 – 31 2015

5th Biennial Toronto International Deaf Film & Arts Festival (TIDFAF) May 27 – 31 2015

The Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival 2015 held its opening reception at Signs restaurant (the first Canadian venue to be staffed with those from the deaf community) and celebrated Canadian and international filmmakers.

The festival’s opening film, German documentary “Die Mauer (The Wall)” details the first meeting of the deaf communities in East and West Germany when the Berlin Wall came down.

The film uses German sign language along with English subtitles.

Other films at the festival include “The Tribe“, a Ukrainian film which won Cannes Film Festival Awards in 2014, “Wasted Beauty” (USA), “100th Anniversary of Detroit Catholic Deaf Ministry” (USA)
“Deaf Women, Tell Me/Femmes sourdes, dites-moi ” (Canada), and “The Deaf: Through the Thorns to the Stars” (Russia).

Attendees at the reception included filmmakers Mark Berry (Die Mauer), Pavel Rodionov (The Deaf: Through the Thorns to the Stars), Judy Vardon (100th Anniversary of Detroit Catholic Deaf Ministry), Festival Director Catherine MacKinnon (co-producer of Wasted Beauty) and actors Anthony Natale (Jerry Macguire, Mr. Holland’s Opus) and Mathias Schafer (Die Mauer).

The festival runs from May 27 – May 31, with screenings at the Royal and Bloor Hot Docs theatres.

Catherine MacKinnon, Anthony Natale

Anthony Rumolo

(photos by Sari)