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2026 Film Festival
The Sign on Screen Film Festival will take place at the Australian National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra from Friday May 22 to Sunday May 24, 2026. A collaboration between the NFSA, Deaf Connect and the Australian National University, the festival will feature films and series in sign languages from all over the world,…
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The Project Making Sign Language Cinema More Accessible
Sign language cinema has been booming in recent years. More films and series in sign language have now been released since 2010 than in the century of film history before it. There have never been more Deaf and signing actors, directors and writers working in the film industry. But there are still films being made…
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Welcome to New Sign on Screen Research Assistant, Charlotte Young
ANU undergraduate student and disability advocate Charlotte Young has joined the Sign on Screen team as a Research Assistant, to maintain the Film Finder sign language cinema database and help plan future events. Here, Charlotte introduces herself and her interest in sign language cinemas. When Gemma first told me about an opening for a research…
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French Sign Language Films and Series to Discover- and Critique
In the 18th century, the world’s first Schools for the Deaf were established in France, and today one of the most common sign languages shown on screen is French Sign Language (Langue des signes française, or LSF). There is a vibrant Deaf screen culture in France, as shown in its many LSF documentaries and the…
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A Sign for Good: The ANU Community Boosting Sign Language Users
The grassroots club made up of ANU students and staff has already boosted the number of sign language users in Canberra. For Charlotte Young, learning sign language is empowering. As the President and co-founder of the Auslan Club at The Australian National University (ANU), Young has helped to create a space dedicated to sharing Deaf…
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What Are We Saying When We Show Apes Signing in Movies?
From King Kong to Koko to the Planet of the Apes series, movies in which apes use a sign language can both portray the power of sign, and perpetuate damaging myths about the languages of Deaf communities. In this video for the ANU College of Science, Sign on Screen lead Gemma King discusses what happens…
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Diplomacy and resistance: how Dune shows us the power of language – including sign language
In Dune’s sandswept colonialist dystopia of the distant future, power is a force best handled – and transferred – surreptitiously. In a world of ultra-wealthy spice barons and interplanetary warfare, the greatest asset in both diplomacy and resistance is an intangible one: language. Nowhere is this clearer than in the films’ portrayal of sign language.
