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In the Land of the Deaf



The films and methods of Nicolas Philibert, maker of Etre et avoir, have shown him to be one of contemporary cinema's most acclaimed documentarists. In The Land of the Deaf is an elegantly spare and thoughtful portrait of the rich, diverse, but often isolated culture of the deaf community.

The film has tremendous power and value: it educates and transports us to another way of occupying this world, and it does so in a pleasurable, unrushed and intelligent fashion.

Special Features

- Introduction to the film by its director Nicolas Philibert.
- Digitally re-mastered with restored image and sound, approved by the Director.
- Anamorphic 16:9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.
- New and improved English subtitle translation.
- Booklet featuring new essay on the film by Jonathan Rosenbaum.

DVD Times review.

This finally arrived in the post yesterday.

Wow, what a beautiful movie. In some ways I prefer it to ETRE AVOIR.

Great job on the disc, too. Not sure if the subtitles were new or from the original release, but they were both concise and poetic.

How does it compare (in terms of tone and content) to Herzog's Land of Silence and Darkness? Is there any common ground (apart from the obvious)?

Terrible, I know, but I'm afraid I am yet to see the Herzog film.

I want to more than ever now, so I will try to see it shortly and get back to you about its overlap with the Philibert film.

Having seen numerous other Herzog docs, though (including the recent GRIZZLY MAN, which I highly recommend), I would venture to say that Philibert isn't as concerned with the "artifice" of documentaries as Herzog sometimes is, nor as intrusive into the format (incidentally, that is not a criticism of Herzog's methods, just an observation).

IN THE LAND OF THE DEAF is deceptively straightforward in its approach (though never conventional). It's just extremely human, illuminating and moving.

Silence and Darkness is super-early, so it's actually incredibly straight-forward, stylistically. And there's no Herzog VO, either. I'd love to hear your comparison, when you get a chance to check out the Herzog.

Philibert's IN THE LAND OF THE DEAF will kick-off Second Run's new series of FREE screenings at London's ROXY BAR & SCREEN (www.roxybarandscreen.com). Called Second Run Monday's - we will screen a Second Run release every second Monday of the month.

IN THE LAND OF THE DEAF will screen at 8pm on MONDAY JULY 14 and be introduced by our very own Mehelli Modi.

Screening this Saturday 8th September at 6.30pm at Cine Lumiere