Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements

Time: 6 p.m. September 27 - 9:30 p.m. September 26

Location: Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium, Newhouse 3

17th Annual Syracuse University Human Rights Film Festival

(Irene Taylor Brodsky, USA, 2019, 90 min. Captioned in English)

This film builds on Brodsky's powerful first feature, Hear and Now, by delving into an intergenerational exploration of living with deafness. Brodsky’s son Jonas began losing his hearing as a baby and underwent cochlear-implant surgery as a toddler. Now 11 years old, Jonas has adjusted to a world with sound and is learning to play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Brodsky’s parents also have cochlear implants, but unlike Jonas, the majority of their lives were shaped by silence. While Jonas explores what silence means to him, his grandfather grapples with a new transition of his own.

Buoyed by a perceptive soundscape and luminous animation, Brodsky astutely captures the complexity of silence and hearing. Rich archival footage portrays Brodsky’s parents’ reflections on the evolution of deafness while intimate home videos reveal Jonas’s hearing transformation. In this deeply personal and moving film, Brodsky explores the meaning of deafness, loss, and the power of silence as her son discovers his unique voice and her parents confront a new chapter of their lives.

A brief reception precedes the 7pm screening.

Check festival website for complete details as they develop.

Roger Hallas, Tula Goenka, English, Newhouse