Deaf Child

One World Festival

In an intimate family portrait, Dutch director Alex de Ronde portrays the childhood and adolescence of his deaf son Tobias and his struggle to obtain respect for the deaf.

“I’m deaf at heart,” says Tobias, now an adult, with gratitude in his voice. Although born into a hearing family, all of his loved ones learned to sign, and, together, they turned his inability to hear into a privilege. Because all of the members of his family adopted and adapted to another type of mutual communication as a natural part of life, Tobias was able to perceive himself as deaf and thus fully develop his own identity. The documentary observes the adult Tobias through his father’s eyes – the boy who has grown up to become a self-confident young man, studies at the university, works as a sign language teacher, and dreams of one day having a child with his girlfriend.