Someday Stories/Supplied
Hand In Hand is a short film about a 1970’s NZ school where sign language is banned, but two Deaf girls risk it all to experience true friendship.
The moment that made a film producer cry on set was when she was given a sign name.
To those outside the Deaf community, that might not resonate. But a sign name can only be given to a person by someone who is Deaf.
Georgia Hoskins-Smith was given the sign name Sunshine by two young Deaf actors while producing the short film Hand In Hand as part of the Someday Stories series.
“It’s the perfect representation of Georgia … That was a really beautiful moment,” said the film’s writer and director Shelley Waddams.
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This moment demonstrates the amount of respect the filmmakers had from those in the Deaf community when making the film, despite its confronting premise about a time when Deaf children were banned and punished for using New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) in the 1970s.
The film originates from the conversations Waddams had with her mum, who is Deaf, and her childhood.
“There’s a bit in the film where they sit on their hands, and she told me how they used to sit on their hands to stop the teacher from seeing that they were signing,” she said. “From that, the whole idea of the film started.”
Megan Goldsman
Young Deaf actor Natalia Kay (left) and film producer Georgia Hoskins-Smith on the set of Hand In Hand.
Waddams spent her life growing up in the Deaf community and can communicate in NZSL herself.
The lack of Deaf representation and stories was further amplified when they started researching and producing the film.
The casting process was “a real journey” said Hoskins-Smith, because they found a lot of agents didn’t have any young Deaf children on their books.
It was important they cast Deaf …….