‘Sound and Fury’, a documentary in which Deaf actress Jackie Roth was coordinating producer, explores one family’s ongoing struggle for identity in the ‘world of the deaf’. This film, first shown at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, depicts a family battle over the cochlear implant for Heather. Some of her family members celebrate the implant as a long overdue cure for deafness while others fear it will destroy their cherished sign language and way of life. Heather’s two brothers and her parents, Peter and Nita Artinian are all deaf.
Peter is an outspoken leader of the anti-implant Deaf community on Long Island, and his world is turned upside down by his daughter’s desire to hear. Peter and Nita suspend their long-standing opposition to the implant, but they discover that implanted deaf children are often mainstreamed into the hearing world. They become afraid that with an implant their daughter would reject American Sign Language and Deaf culture. The family conflict escalates when Peter’s hearing brother and his wife learn that their new born child is deaf and decide to implant him. The battle reaches a heated climax as the hearing members of this extraordinary family fight for Heather’s right to be part of the hearing world, while deaf family members fight to pre serve her deaf identity.
