“Silence, the Cochlea” is not the sole Iranian movie produced to attract people’s attention to the problems facing the deaf, but director Behrang Dezfulizadeh has said that he is seeking once again to bring hearing impaired people under the spotlight by this film.
“The deaf are only being regarded during one week of the year that is dedicated to hearing impaired people. With this film, I want to raise people’s understanding of the deaf,” he said at a press conference on Sunday during the 38th Fajr Film Festival.
“Assembling an all-star cast could help us in this way,” noted Dezfulizadeh whose film is competing in New Look, the festival’s section dedicated to directorial debut feature-films.
Hanieh Tavassoli, Mehran Ahmadi, Mohsen Kiai and Pedram Sharifi are the main members of the cast.
Dezfulizadeh denied the remarks of those accusing him of advertising cochlear implants in the country by his film and said, “Cochlear implant technology entered Iran in 1992. It is part of the story in the film and many hearing impaired people want to undergo the operation.
Tavassoli and some members of the cast were compelled to learn sign language for their parts in “Silence, the Cochlea”.
Dezfulizadeh announced his plan to arrange a special screening of the movie for the deaf in the future.
Based on an official figure published in 2019, about 250,000 persons are hard of hearing or are functionally deaf in Iran.
Tehran times