Sign
'SIGN' is a short film that tells, through vignettes, music, and sign language, the story of a relationship between Ben, a hearing man, and Aaron, who is deaf.
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Andrew Keenan-BolgerDirector
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Adam WachterWriter
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Adam WachterProducer
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Andrew Keenan-BolgerProducer
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Preston SadleirKey Cast
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John McGintyKey Cast
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Alexandria WailesDirector of ASL and Culture
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Adam WachterMusic
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Romance, Drama, Music, LGBT, Deaf Culture
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Runtime:14 minutes 56 seconds
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Completion Date:June 1, 2016
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Production Budget:6,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Shooting Format:RED
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Aspect Ratio:2.40 : 1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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OutFest LALos Angeles
United States
July 9, 2016
World Premiere -
Flickers: Rhode Island International Film FestivalProvidence, RI
United States
August 9, 2016 -
MIX Copenhagen LGBTQ Film FestivalCopenhagen
Denmark
September 30, 2016
European Premiere -
Iris Prize FestivalCardiff, Wales
United States
October 16, 2016
Youth Jury Award: Best Short -
Birmingham Shout! Film FestivalBirmingham, AL
United States
August 16, 2016
Best SHOUT Short -
Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film FestivalHong Kong
China
September 20, 2016
Asian Premiere -
Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ Film FestivalChicago, IL
United States
September 22, 2016 -
Sunscreen Film Festival WestManhattan Beach, CA
United States
September 29, 2016 -
Barcelona LGBT Film FestivalBarcelona
Spain
October 14, 2016 -
Boardwalk Film FestivalAsbury Park, NJ
United States
September 18, 2016
Best LGBT Film -
CMG Short Film FestivalWest Hollywood, CA
United States
September 25, 2016
Audience Award: Best Drama -
Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film FestivalTampa, FL
United States
September 30, 2016 -
European Short Film FestivalBerlin
Germany
October 3, 2016 -
PROUD! FilmfestivalÅrhus
Denmark
October 7, 2016 -
Sunscreen Film Festival WestManhattan Beach, CA
United States
September 30, 2016 -
Atlanta's Out on FilmAtlanta, GA
United States
October 1, 2016
Audience Award: Best Men's Short -
NewFest: NYC's LGBT Film FestivalNew York, NY
United States
October 21, 2016
Audience Award: Best Narrative Short -
Lancaster International Short Film FestivalLancaster, PA
United States
October 20, 2016 -
Big Apple Film FestivalNew York, NY
United States
October 22, 2016 -
Holebikort ContestBrussels
Belgium
November 13, 2016 -
Cleveland International Film FestivalCleveland, OH
United States
March 31, 2017 -
Maine Deaf Film FestivalPortland, ME
United States
May 29, 2017 -
Schwule Filmwoche FreiburgFreiburg
Germany
May 3, 2017 -
Festival MIX MexicoMexico City
Mexico
May 24, 2017 -
East End Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
June 10, 2017 -
New Filmmakers Los AngelesLos Angeles, CA
United States
June 24, 2017 -
Frameline Film FestivalSan Francisco
United States
June 16, 2017 -
North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film FestivalDurham, NC
United States
August 11, 2017 -
Rainbow Film FestivalShropshire, England
United Kingdom
October 18, 2017
Best International Short -
Superfest International Film FestivalSan Francisco
United States -
Eau Queer Film FestivalEau Claire, WI
United States
October 11, 2017 -
Reel QPittsburgh, PA
United States
October 17, 2017 -
OutReelsCincinnati, OH
United States
October 11, 2017
Distribution Information
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Peccadillo Pictures (Boys on Film DVD Series)Country: United KingdomRights: Video / Disc
Andrew Keenan-Bolger is an actor, director and bestselling author currently starring as “Jesse Tuck” in Tuck Everlasting on Broadway. Other Broadway: "Crutchie" in Newsies, Mary Poppins, Seussical, Beauty and the Beast. Film/TV: The Rewrite, Marci X, Are You Joking?, “Nurse Jackie”, “Looking,” “Naked Brothers Band,” “One Life to Live.” As a filmmaker, he’s been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, AP and New York Magazine. Co-director of the short films The Ceiling Fan, Sign and critically acclaimed webseries, “Submissions Only.” Co-author of the book series Jack & Louisa (Penguin Random House). @KeenanBlogger
Being a gay kid in the nineties meant growing up in relative isolation from my own community, especially in pop culture. Stories about LGBT people weren't easy to find in film or on TV, and the few depictions there were didn't usually feature people like me (a scrawny white kid from inner-city Detroit who liked musical theatre). As I grew up and started exploring film as an instrument for storytelling, it became a medium for finally telling the unrepresented stories that I'd searched for in my youth.
Cut to 2016, where gay characters are practically the new vampires, but the diversity of the stories being told by those characters is still constrained. That's what drew screenwriter Adam Wachter and I to explore stories about gay men that intersected with another group of people who are underrepresented in American film — the Deaf community. SIGN became an opportunity to explore the tension between two men who have a shared experience of one system of oppression — homophobia — but are still separated by language and cultural barriers that are inextricably linked with their identities.
If I did learn anything from all of those queer-less films and TV shows as a kid, it's that you can't authentically tell stories about a community without a team of creators who are a part of that community. Adam and I knew that we couldn't begin to tell this story without a team of Deaf artists to guide our hands. With the help and collaboration of our talented Deaf friends in the New York theatre community, we were fortunate enough to compile a team of actors, directors, interpreters and crew — both hearing and deaf — and shot SIGN in a four-day marathon session in multiple locations across New York City.
As a director who only knew the most rudimentary American Sign Language (ASL), the linguistic and cultural barriers that I thought of as limitations turned out to become my secret strengths. I knew that we were telling a story to two audiences with different ways of accessing the story. Knowing that our hearing audience was not likely to understand the ASL being spoken in the film, I had to make sure we were telling the story through body language and visual cues. Knowing that our Deaf audience would not be able to hear Adam's score, which does so much heavy lifting in a silent film, I was encouraged by ASL director Alexandria Wailes to experiment and shoot broadly with lighting, framing and composition to create tension and balance where music would ordinarily assist. In the end, it didn’t feel like either audience was missing out: Our Deaf viewers access the love story of these two men through ASL, and our hearing viewers queue in from the score. What we ended up with was a wordless story that, in thirteen minutes, encapsulates the entire arc of a relationship. The two audiences — like our two leads — understand the film more fully together than they do apart.