Deafkidsland

Santa Croce is an ancient mansion that austerely rises in the countryside near Modena in Italy.
The silence of the dawn is interrupted only by the long refrain of the prayers of the nuns that live in it. And, in September, when the school open, even Santa Croce transforms itself in a teaching place, where about 150 kids from 3 to 10 years old are welcome. Twenty of them are deaf.
They come in Santa Croce without sound, without formed words. For breaking the silence and finding the key for communicate with the external world they have to train really hard, but above all they have to spend long time far from their mums and dads.
The nuns know that only overcoming the homesickness and with the growing of the confidence in that new family there will be the conditions for their little guests to collaborate and learning.
One entire year in an ancient countryside school, drived by the quiet silence and talkative hands.
One year for coming down at the kids time.

NOTE OF ARTISTIC INTENT

I spent two years in the Santa Croce school focusing myself on the deaf kids. I really needed to understand their way of feeling the world. And at the end I just felt one of them, kids like they are, forgetting day after day and more and more their deafness.
At first the slow and complex learning processes, were in the centre of my interest about deaf kids that have to train really hard since 3 years old for learning to speak and lips reading. But, secondly, better knowing the little guests of the school I realized tha the learning processes had less and less importance comparison to the wide and articulated world of the kids needs. At the end, in fact, in the centre of the narration of this documentary there’s my need to understand the importance of the myriad of little and big acts, the little and big cares of the daily life. I really believe that they are at the feeding for every good learning process, either related to the deafness or simply related to the fact of being kid.