See five of the shortlisted finalists for this year’s LUX Audience Awards this season at Scandinavia House! On March 27 we’ll be screening Deaf (Sorda), a “beautifully nuanced” debut by Spanish director Eva Libertad. Winner of the International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas and the coveted Audience Award at the Panorama Section of the Berlinale, Sorda offers a personal, vital, and profoundly moving look into the complexity and rarely explored relationship between the deaf and hearing worlds.
Ángela, a deaf woman, and Héctor, her hearing partner, are expecting a child. They are excited about the pregnancy, although they do not yet know whether the baby will be deaf or hearing. Despite both claiming they can handle whatever comes, their underlying concerns are evident. After a complicated and emotionally intense labor, Ángela gives birth to their daughter, but the pair will have to wait a couple of months to learn if the baby is hearing or not. Navigating this limbo, Héctor struggles to fully grasp the challenges Ángela is facing, while she must come to terms with raising a daughter who may not share her experience of the world. This journey forces both of them to question their roles as partners and parents, as Ángela grapples with her identity in a society that does not fully accept or understand her.
This event has been organized by the European Parliament in partnership with Scandinavia House.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Eva Libertad is a screenwriter, director and sociologist from Murcia in Spain. Her feature film Sorda takes as its starting point her eponymous short film which was nominated for a Goya Spanish Film Award in 2023 and won numerous prizes at national and international festivals. As a playwright, she has written and directed plays for institutions including the Complutense University of Madrid and the Mexican Secretary of Social Development which focus on issues such as gender-based violence, human trafficking and the sexual rights of migrants.
ABOUT THE LUX AUDIENCE AWARD
The LUX Audience Award is a joint initiative of the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in collaboration with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas. It is the largest audience award worldwide and the only film prize in the world where citizens together with Members of the European Parliament -with each group weighting 50% -can decide who the winner will be by rating the nominated films online.
The LUX Audience Award fosters dialogue and engagement between politics and the public through the medium of film. The nominated films address European values and raise awareness about some of today’s main social and political issues such as mental health, poverty, climate change, freedom of expression, gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights.
