Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky--Deafness in Three Movements

Art Works Podcast

In this 2019 podcast, filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky discusses her project "Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements," and her commitment to making films accessible to differently-abled audiences. We talk about her first feature documentary, "Hear and Now," which won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2007 and explored her deaf parents’ experiences when they were 65 with cochlear implants and its relationship to her film “Moonlight Sonata," which was partly inspired by her deaf son, Jonas, who was driven to learn to play Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata”. We discuss the emotional and historical significance of Beethoven’s work, particularly how his deafness influenced his compositions. Irene also recounts the unexpected twists during filming, including her father's development of dementia. And she discusses the Reel Abilities Film Festival where her film premiered, her commitment to making her film, as well as others, accessible to the deaf, blind, and differently-abled communities, and her not-for-profit The Treehouse Project and its Accessibility Lab which works to elevate deaf and blind audiences’ access to and participation in theatrical independent film.