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curated by Isabella Carini and Chiara Granata

[SEEING VOICES] is a pilot project within Concorto Film Festival dedicated to deaf culture. Through specific subtitling, Italian Sign Language (LIS) interpreters, and trained staff, Concorto is introducing accessibility for deaf people.

The project, whose title is a tribute to the book by Oliver Sacks on deafness, is meant to bring an accessible film offer to the Piacenza area. It is a first step towards making the festival fully accessible for all, a goal which Concorto hopes to achieve over the next few years.

In addition to the usual subtitling in Italian and English, this year a substantial part of the programmed short films will be screened with subtitles which include not only speech, but also all information which is relevant to deaf culture. Questa lavorazione si aggiunge alla sottotitolazione abituale del festival, in doppia lingua italiano/inglese.

Important local institutions and associations are involved in the project, likeENS (Italian National Agency for the Deaf), which has supported the project both in terms of communication and by providing Sign Language using staff. Al.Di.Qua. Artists (an association of artists and art workers with disabilities) has given an invaluable contribution to the event. Last but not least, the project has featured a collaboration with the post-graduate training programme LACCI (Languages for accessibility and inclusion) of the University of Bologna.

In addition to subtitling and LIS communication within the festival, deaf culture will have visibility through 3 short films on deafness which are part of the focus After Babel: “The Silent child”, “Can you read my lips?” and “A woman like me”.

A key moment of the project will be a talk on accessibility and the best practices to achieve it. The talk, made accessible by a LIS interpreter, will be free and open to everyone, and it will host a Q&A session.