query: films with deaf-mute protagonists

[Roland Domenig]

I also guess the film your colleague is looking for is Matsuyama's Na mo naku mazushiku utsukushiku from 1961.

There are quite many films about deaf protagonists. One of the well known ones beside Kitano's "Ano natsu, ichiban shizuka na umi" is Yamada Yoji's "Musuko" (1991) which has also been shown internationally. Lesser known are Obayashi Nobuhiko's "Kaze no uta ga kikitai" (1998), Isomura Itsumichi's "Amemasu no kawa" (2004), "I Love You" (1995) directed by Osawa Yutaka and Yonaiyama Akihiro (who himself is deaf), "Yotsu no shushifu" (1990) by Ohara Akitoshi or the ATG production "Arakajime ushinawareta koibitotachi yo" directed by Shimizu Kunio and Tahara Soichiro. There are also several documentaries about the theme. 

Roland Domenig
Institute of East Asian Studies
Vienna University 



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
> [mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf 
> Of Ivo Smits
> Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 10:45 AM
> To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: query: films with deaf-mute protagonists
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> I have only recently joined the list, but here is my first query:
> 
> a colleague of mine is trying to trace a b/w Japanese film he 
> once saw around 1975.
> The film has as its protagonists a boy and girl, both deaf, 
> and features, amongst others, a scene in a train, or rather, 
> two trains, each of them carrying a protagonist. They 
> communicate through sign language, and are obviously not 
> bothered by the deafening roar of the trains.
> 
> Does anyone know which film this may have been?
> 
> BTW, Kitano's "Ano natsu, ichiban shizuka na umi" came to 
> mind as another film about deaf/deaf-mute protagonists. Are 
> there more Japanese films that deal with deaf people?
> 
> Best wishes,
>      Ivo Smits
> 
> **********************************************************
> Dr Ivo Smits
> Centre for Japanese and Korean Studies
> Leiden University
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> 2300 RA  Leiden
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> E-mail:  i.b.smits at let.leidenuniv.nl (???????)
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>