DEAF: Presented By The Sonoma International Film Festival

A major winner at Spain’s Goya Awards — the Spanish Academy Awards — DEAF announces director Eva Libertad as one of the most exciting new voices in European cinema. The film took home Goya Awards for Best New Director for Eva Libertad, Best New Actress for Miriam Garlo, and Best Supporting Actor for Álvaro Cervantes, in addition to winning the Audience Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, confirming its powerful emotional connection with audiences.

Ángela, a deaf woman, and Héctor, her hearing partner, are joyfully expecting their first child. But as motherhood approaches, Ángela begins to wonder whether she will be able to fully connect with her daughter in a world that too often fails to accommodate or understand deaf people. After the baby arrives, Héctor does everything he can to support her, but Ángela must navigate motherhood, identity, love, and isolation on her own terms.

Critics have praised DEAF as a “compassionate, sensitive debut” and an “emotionally complex portrait” of a woman whose life changes profoundly with the arrival of her child. Anchored by Miriam Garlo’s remarkable, award-winning performance, DEAF is tender, intimate, and deeply moving — a beautifully observed story about parenthood, communication, and the universal longing to be seen, heard, and understood.