News and Announcements
Marlee Matlin in "Sweet Nothing in my Ear"
Critically acclaimed actress, Marlee Matlin, will be starring in a CBS presentation that touches on one of the most controversial issues in the Deaf community. ‘Sweet Nothing in my Ear’ focuses in on a family’s dilemma of whether to perform an operation on their deaf son that may allow him to hear. For more information on this film, please visit the "Sweet Nothing" website.
Special Recognition for Cayuga Medical Center
Empire Interpreting Service recognizes different facilities during the year for their diligence in providing professional Interpreters to their consumers. This month Empire Interpreting Service would like to recognize Cayuga Medical Center and their outlying clinics for their efforts in making all of their facilities accessible to the deaf community. They have been presented with a plaque which reads the following:
Empire Interpreting Service recognizes Cayuga Medical Center for developing an environment open to the Deaf Community. Cayuga Medical has provided professional Sign Language Interpreters on a consistent basis to facilitate open communication between its patients and health care professionals. We commend the hospital for making Cayuga Medical truly open to the Deaf Community! - July, 2007
Marlee Matlin Is Heading Back To Silver Screen
It looks like Marlee Matlin might just fight her way out of the Oscar-winner curse. Granted, her curse was to do a million guest stints on television that garnered her 4 guest-actress Emmy nods, but since her debut and Academy Award for Children of a Lesser God, Matlin hasn't really had any high-profile, meaty film roles. After some longer TV stints on The West Wing and now a recurring role as a lesbian art professor on The L Word, Matlin is heading back to the big screen as an actress and producer for the upcoming Silent Knights.
No, this isn't a horror remake. Instead, it's the story about a Division 3 deaf football program who gets a Division 1A college football coach after he suffers a near-fatal car accident. This time, Matlin won't be an art professor but rather the university's psychologist, who is also a prominent figure in the deaf community. The screenplay comes from the pen of Doug McKeon, who isn't a stranger to sports films and feel-good stories. His previous script, The Boys of Sunset Ridge dealt with the lives of four men through golf, and his last feature, Come Away Home, was all sorts of family melodrama. However, hopefully this film won't fall prey to the melodramatic traps of feel-good features.
Deaf Performing Artists Network
The Deaf Performing Artists Network, a new national nonprofit organization, was formed to make music and music culture accessible to millions of underserved Americans, as well as to create career and learning opportunities in the music business for deaf and hard of hearing artists and technicians.
D-PAN begins by taking an easy, simple step: By creating deaf-centric reinterpretations of music videos using the standard American Sign Language (ASL), enabling performing artists to communicate to the hard of hearing worldwide. In creating these videos, D-PAN will open up a new channel for dialogue with a vibrant, active community who are anxious to participate in music culture at all levels – as creators, as performers, as consumers.
Take a look at D-PAN's latest ASL Video by Fort Minor, "Where'd You Go?"