In September actress Liz Tannebaum and Joshua Flanders, representing the Chicago Institute for the Moving Image (CIMI) joined actor Bernard Bragg in showing films and presenting on several panel discussions at the “Breaking the Barriers” disability film festival in Moscow. The purpose of their visit was to promote the Festival of Cinema for the Deaf, held annually in Chicago, and to promote and support deaf filmmakers and audiences everywhere. The festival is an attempt to address issue of how people with disabilities are portrayed in film and media, as well as to share films that approach these issues. Flanders and Tannebaum say the films from their Chicago festival address much different needs. “Our films are not ‘about’ deaf life,” says Tannebaum, an Emmy winning deaf actress, “but ‘for’ deaf people or ‘of’ deaf people in different countries.” Films include comedies, dramas, thrillers, satire, and even music videos.

There are two kinds of films, according to Bragg, “films that entertain, and films that teach, like documentaries. First we must entertain with deaf films, and then we can speak about looking at making changes.” In Moscow, they met with Vladimir Bazoev, president of the Moscow Society of the Deaf, attended a deaf soccer match between a French and a Russian team, attended a deaf fashion show and VIP reception, and dined at an American-style restaurant owned by deaf entrepreneur and President of the Russian Surdolymic Committee, Nikolay Klimov.