As a deaf child, Wayne Betts Jr. watched E.T. for the first time, and knew instantly that he would be a filmmaker.
After years of education, including time at Rochester Institution of Technology’s School of Film and Animation, he has reached his lifelong goal. He’s even founded a multimedia production company.
Betts will be the honored guest speaker at this year’s Maine Deaf Film Festival, held for the sixth year at USM next week.
The USM Linguistics Department and the American Sign Language Club of Maine will host the annual Deaf Film Festival this Saturday, April 19. The festival will feature eight hours of film, videos and discussions by Betts, educators and members of the deaf community.
The festival will include films from all over the world, ranging in style from suspense to documentary, animation, drama, comedy and romance.
The films have been chosen by a committee that includes many USM ASL students and faculty.
This year, “Nice N Ezy,” a 1 minute film, presents a comical warning about the consequences of taking drugs at discos.
“Loveless, Lonely and a Loser,” a nine-minute English film shows us poor, clumsy Adam. No matter what he does to try and impress the woman of his dreams, it just won’t work.
Supported by his two best friends – whom girls adore – Adam begins his hunt to find his very own lady. Cursed with misfortune and bad luck, will an accidental love ever fall his way? British Sign Language and English subtitles will be included.
Director Wayne Betts, Jr. presents “The Deaf Family” and “A Permanent Grave,” two feature films including ASL and Subtitles.
The first is a movie sitcom that follows a family from job-hunting to pyramid money-making schemes, holier-than-thou pretentious people to obnoxious “grassroots” folks.
“The Deaf Family” gets the deaf community to poke fun at itself in hysterical situations.
The second film is a drama about a high school teacher who makes a grave mistake that could turn his life upside-down.
Each genre offers opportunities for the deaf artists who made them to present original statements about the deaf experience.
Cultural and technological changes since the early days of Hollywood enable the deaf to tell their own story in their own language and in their own way. As a result, what has come to be called the “New Deaf Cinema” has emerged.
Films will be interpreted for both hearing and deaf audiences as appropriate.
The first film session shows from 1-5 p.m. on April 19. The second session is 6:30-10:30 p.m. Both are in USM’s Talbot Hall in Luther Bonney Hall, Portland. An open reception with refreshments will go on from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Woodbury Campus Center Amphitheatre. Tickets are free for USM students, and can be bought for the entire day or half day by the general public.