Handscape

Contemporary Shanghai, summer. Xia Qing, a boy who has been wearing Cochlear Implants due to hearing impairment, has a deep love for dancing. He gains so much joy just from copying Martha Graham’s hand gestures in a dance magazine. A kid with a precocious nature, he sometimes paints his pinky nail red just for that glimpse of beauty. Yet all these passionate pursuits are misunderstood and questioned by his single, deaf mother. Given the opportunity to audition for his favorite dance company once in a blue moon, he has no choice but to return to his body--He seeks his mother’s approval and longs to overcome this obscure self-identity crisis, through the silent language on his fingertips. 

Director Biography - Yiru Chen

Yiru Chen, film director, artist, and poet. She graduated from NYU Tisch of School of the Arts with a major in Film and Television production and minors in Psychology and American Sign Language. She will continue to pursue her master’s degree at Columbia University, Teachers College for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Education. A dedicated observer and a performer herself, her artworks own a unique style and they always incorporate the explorations of humanity, culture, as well as the connections between the civil and universal emotions. She has also been the Director of Photography of many prize-winning student films. Yiru remains an advocate for sign languages and an active member of both Shanghai and New York Deaf communities. Her goal is to promote the education and art of sign languages - an essential key to the Deaf culture, along with members of both communities.