Breaking Silence
Premiered November 16, 2023
Amy Bench and Annie Silverstein
A deaf father and his hearing daughter explore how imprisonment has shaped their relationship and advocacy.
EXPLORE THE FILM
About the Documentary
A deaf father and his hearing daughter build new bonds through their experiences in the criminal justice system. Breaking Silence explores their joint memories of her experiences being a hearing-abled child with deaf parents, and how imprisonment and reentry reshaped their relationship after he became a prison counselor for the deaf.
The Filmmakers
Filmmaker and cinematographer Amy Bench is drawn to telling stories of community and resilience. Her previous film More Than I Want to Remember (2022) was shortlisted for a 2023 Oscar. The film won Best Short Doc at Hot Docs, Best Animated Short at Tribeca, and is distributed by MTV Documentary Films and available on Paramount+.
Annie Silverstein is a filmmaker and educator. Her short film, Skunk, won the Cinéfondation jury award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Silverstein’s feature debut, Bull, premiered at the Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2019, and received three Independent Spirit Award nominations in 2021. She is currently a professor at Texas State University.
Monique Walton produces features and documentaries. She produced Annie Silverstein’s Bull, an official selection at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard, which was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards. Her shorts, Dark Matters and The Becoming Box, were featured on the Criterion Channel’s Afrofuturism program.
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