Canberra’s Sign on Screen festival is taking place at the National Film and Sound Archive, Acton from Friday May 22 to Sunday May 24, 2026. Deaf, hearing and hard of hearing (HoH) audiences are all encouraged to attend this free, fully Auslan/English-interpreted celebration of sign language film.
Sign On Screen is a rare opportunity for those working in the Australian screen industry to network and build bridges with Deaf and HoH key creatives and help dispel some of the myths surrounding their practices and approaches. Special guests of the festival include Deaf and HoH filmmakers, actors and academics Sofya Gollan, Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu, Rodney Adams, Breda Carty, Irene Holub, Victoria Singh Thompson, Julian Walsh, Nathan Borg and Sam Martin.
A collaboration between the Australian National University, Deaf Connect,the Australian Research Council and the NFSA,the festival’s Opening Night Gala will feature a program of award-winning Australian Deaf-led shorts in Auslan, English and Yolŋu Sign Language, including Gutiŋarra Djälkiri (Gutiŋarra Yunupiŋu), Eye of the Game (Ramas McCrae),So Beautiful (Sofya Gollan), Deafying Gravity (Sam Martin), 14 in February (Victoria Singh Thompson) and Remember (Manifesto of Silences, Irene Holub). A catered reception will follow.
Feature drama and documentary films with sign language and from international Deaf creatives (Not Alone Anymore, Children of a Lesser God, Retreat, Deaf President Now! and Imagined Touch) will also screen throughout the weekend, alongside festival workshops and panel discussions on Auslan, Indigenous Sign Languages, and career pathways for Deaf or HoH screen creatives working in Australia.
Saturday morning’s festival program features Julian Walsh showing a rare selection of Auslan community films, Breda Carty (Deaf Connect and Macquarie University) will present her work with the NFSA on Deaf History Collections, and an industry gathering for Deaf and HoH film creatives will be led by Nathan Borg and Sam Martin. New feature film Retreat by Ted Evans, which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and is entirely in British Sign Language, will screen on Saturday afternoon. It will be followed by a double feature of two American Sign Language films: Shoshannah Stern’s Not Alone Anymore, which screened at Sundance and SXSW, and Children of a Lesser God, both starring Academy Award-winning Deaf actress and advocate Marlee Matlin.
On Sunday morning, award-winning filmmaker and scholar Sofya Gollan (Australian National University) will present the state of play on Deaf filmmaking in Australia followed by Deaf Indigenous academic Rodney Adams (University of Sydney) with ‘Maligagu’, a presentation on Australian Indigenous Sign Languages on film. The festival will culminate in Sunday afternoon screenings of Jodee Mundy and Gollan’s feature documentary about deafblindness, Imagined Touch, and the critically successful Deaf President Now! by Deaf activist Nyle DiMarco and producer Davis Guggenheim, documenting the 1988 student protest at Gallaudet University for the Deaf and HoH, when a hearing President was elected over Deaf candidates. It will close with a round table from the festival’s special guests.
All events are FREE and presented in the NFSA’s beautiful art deco Arc Cinema equipped with hearing loop capability. All workshop and panel events will have Auslan<>English interpreters and all screenings will feature English-language SDH captions. Dom’s onsite deli and cafe will be open at key times throughout the festival for all your food and beverage needs.
Full program and ticket registrations coming to the NFSA website soon! Sign up to the NFSA newsletter and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn (Gemma, Sofya and Sam) to receive updates.
Image credit: Vincent Hawkins, from So Beautiful (Sofya Gollan, 2025).
