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guide in English to films showing in Germany.
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Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, USA 2025
In 1864, Gallaudet University, a cherished institution for the Deaf community, was founded by Abraham Lincoln. Oddly, over its 124-year history, many of the university’s leadership, including presidents, have been comprised of hearing people. Strangely while the students and faculty would communicate in sign language, those who run the university did not. DiMarco, Guggenheim, and collaborator Emmy Award winner Jonathan King discovered that the underlying message given to the students was, “Even here, you’re different. Even here, you aren’t fully understood. Even here, you are powerless.”
Fast forward to 1988, the university is ready to hire a new president, and the board interviews several qualified deaf candidates. The students are energized by this prospect and feel like a “new day” is coming and progress will be made. To their “shock and awe,” the news of a hearing person with no sign language knowledge is chosen. The only positive outcome was that a female was chosen.
The students are furious! A protest immediately erupts from the whole student body such intensity that the crowd unites as a mob. Four unlikely leaders emerge to take the student protest to a higher level of seriousness and became known as the Deaf President Now movement.
The four notorious leaders each carried such charisma that it created a balance for the group to work together as a force to be reckoned with. Jerry Covell was a charismatic and cool dude. His anarchist spirit matched the crowd of students, and he would not relent. Greg Hlibok was the unlikely hero, and the newly elected leader of the student government that took on a challenge with integrity. Bridgette Bourne-Firl was the sole female leader of the four, a feminist and torn between what fight to take on: the rights of women, or the rights of the Deaf. Tim Rarus was the radical, outgoing student government leader that tried to work with the system for change. These four individuals created enough drama often more than the protest itself, but the exciting story is how they came together to be a mighty force for change. Their story is truly an inspiration.
The making of DEAF PRESIDENT NOW! was truly a remarkable undertaking, collaborating with the original leaders of the movement, Gallaudet University students, the staff past and present including one former Gallaudet University President I. King Jordan, and at least forty Deaf or Hard of Hearing people participated. Archival film footage of the week-long protest worked over, and a number of film experts and interpreters joined together to bring to the audience a piece of work that tells the unforgettable story with accuracy. To the extent that Charlton Hlibok, son of Greg, a non-actor, played his father exquisitely in the film.
DiMarco and Guggenheim share several details of the production and often address how the crew used many different devices so that Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and hearing people could all communicate under challenging circumstances. Recalling, “They relied on multi-colored flashlights, messenger apps, interpreters, and other technology to aid communication on a multi-lingual set.” This was a successful project and well deserving of praise because of the impact the Deaf President Now Movement had on the future of Gallaudet University’s community and beyond.
