Ep 70: Black Deaf Filmmakers
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Today’s episode features an interview with Jade Bryan, a Black Deaf creator, screenwriter, Executive Producer and film director. Jade is also the founder of Jade Films and Entertainment, a multimedia company. Jade will talk about growing up Deaf and how she became involved in filmmaking. You’ll also learn about the Deaf Talent movement she formed in 2012 which originally centered on Black Deaf Talent and POC Deaf Talent (people of color).
Transcript
Related Links
Candy, Eye. (February 14, 2014). The Shattered Mind: Supporting Black Deaf Culture in Film. Afropunk.
Zorka, Zoe. (January 29, 2020). Diversity, Inclusion, Sustainability, and Politics Dominate the First Week of Sundance. The Source.
About

Jade Bryan graduated with a BFA degree in film production from one of the world’s top film schools at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Jade founded DeafVision Filmworks, Inc. and Jade Films and Entertainment, LLC, and has produced and directed such award-winning documentaries as “Listen to the Hands of Our People”, ”On and Off Stage: The Bruce Hlibok Stories”, “9/11 Fear in Silence: The Forgotten Underdogs” and “Reaching Zenith: A Black Deaf Filmmaker’s Journey.”
Jade completed her first feature, “If Your Could Hear My Own Tune”, which toured the festival circuit from 2010-2012. She worked tirelessly on the film for nine (9) years, which she produced in 2001. Jade in talks about producing it into a musical play (staged reading) this summer/fall of 2018. The new title is “Feel My Song.”
“The Shattered Mind” is her most recent feature film she completed in 2014 and toured 47 film festivals around the globe. “The Shattered Mind” won 17 awards; included Best Sound, Audience Award, Special Jury Prize, Best Exhibition Film and Best Narrative Feature and Short.
One of Jade’s projects, “The Two Essences”, a dramedy pilot, will be her first television series. She is also pitching another pilot, “The Innocent Project,” about deaf females hero complex. She is working on an eight-part documentary series, “Black and Deaf in America”, about various issues regarding deaf (African-Americans) who were impacted by police brutality, racism, black erasure, rape, immigration and deportation, and oppression in the educational system. Her production company is developing a slew of other projects.
Jade believes in promoting inclusion, visibility and positive representation about Deaf Talent who identifies as POC or Black on television and film. She created the #POCDeafTalent and #BlackDeafTalent movement in 2012 to spread awareness on social media.
Website: https://www.jadefilm.com/
Twitter: @DeafShowRunner
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Credits
Cheryl Green, Audio Producer and Text Transcript
Alice Wong, Writer, Audio Producer, Host
Lateef McLeod, Introduction
Mike Mort, Artwork
Theme Music (used with permission of artist)
Song: “Hard Out Here for A Gimp”
Album: NO BIG DEAL
Artist: Wheelchair Sports Camp
Music
“Elektro Attitude” by Chuzausen. (Source: freemusicarchive.org. Licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.)
Sounds
“VOCODER countdown” by Jack_Master. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.
“8 Bit Beeping Computer Sounds” by sheepfilms. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License.
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