April 20, 2026

Deaf is not a film “about deafness”. It is more precise to see it as a film about motherhood as a test of communication, closeness and autonomy in a world designed for the hearing. This axis holds together the story of Ángela, a deaf woman expecting a child with her hearing partner Héctor, and gradually discovering how quickly ordinary care can turn into questions of access, dependence and trust.

The film stays with concrete situations: pregnancy, childbirth, the first months with a baby, communication at home and in healthcare settings. It is neither a scheme nor a model case. In small and entirely practical moments, it shows what it means to live in an environment that does not take your different experience into account.

Sound and silence also play an important role here as part of the narrative itself. The film leads the viewer towards a different perception of contact, distance and those moments when communication falters. Silence carries meaning. That is also why the director has spoken about the film as a space of encounter between hearing and deaf audiences.

When writing the film, Eva Libertad drew on conversations with deaf women about pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood. At the same time, she built on the close personal experience of her sister Miriam Garlo, who plays the lead role. Before the feature-length version, there was already the 2021 short film Sorda; it is clear from that film too that this story did not arise as a one-off “topic”, but as a long-developed project.

Deaf speaks at once about partnership, parenthood and the way hearing experience is so often treated as the default setting. It remains intimate and precise throughout. That may also explain why it won the 2026 LUX Audience Award. Not through grand gestures, but through the focused and quiet way it translates one specific situation into film.

The film will be screened in Olomouc on 22 April 2026 at 18:30 at the Palacký University Art Centre. The screening is presented as part of the Days of European Film, admission is free, and it will be followed by a discussion with a guest from Oblastní unie neslyšících Olomouc.