Film festivals across America are taking note of a short, but important film for deaf cinema.
“Super Sonic,” a film by hard of hearing filmmaker Saleem Nasir Gondal, is just 15 minutes long, but packs a big message. We had the opportunity to talk to this star filmmaker, to find out what it was like to make the film, and the message behind it.
“Super Sonic” is a film by a hard of hearing filmmaker, based on his own life.
In the film, Gondal plays Wahid, a hard of hearing individual who finds love on the dance floor. Inventive sound design invites the audience into his world and hear what he hears. The film is an ode to the power of body language and empathy when words fail us.
First debuting in September 2019 at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, it continued its run at the Austin Film Festival and Writer’s Conference, the premier festival in America for storytelling. Several film festivals listed it as an official selection including the Chicago South Asian Film Festival.
Q&A with filmmaker Saleem Nasir Gondal
HLM: Tell us why Super Sonic is important, not just to you, but to a wider audience as well?
Gondal: “Like the main character Wahid, I’ve had high frequency hearing loss since I was born. My preschool teacher noticed I wasn’t speaking in class. After that, I was fitted with hearing aids to catch up. But even with the aid of modern technology, I struggled to enunciate high frequency sounds like “s” without lisping. I could barely make out the words in conversations around me. My hearing loss was treated like incompetence. In order to protect myself from insults and pity, I built up a wall to distance myself from others.
“Through years of hearing aid upgrades and speech pathology, I kept hiding my hearing aids. They were plastic reminders on my ears of what set me behind everyone I met. The path to accepting myself came from exploring other forms of communication. Like using body language and presence to express myself when words couldn’t. When I realized that listening meant more than simply “hearing,” I felt like the walls I put around me could be chipped away.”
To read more of this article go to Hearing Like Me
