UNiZG student documentary film about students with hearing loss 'Hear me out'

The University of Zagreb has a tradition of awarding best student’s projects each year, and in the academic year 2022/2023 a total of 100 Rector's Awards was awarded (59 awards for individual scientific and artistic work of one or two authors, 15 awards for small(er)-team scientific and artistic work, 7 awards for large(r) team scientific and artistic work, 2 awards for special competitive successes of individuals or teams and 17 awards for community engaged work in the academic and wider community. Among awarded large(r) team projects, raising awareness on superdiversity and inclusion, was the documentary movie about young people connected to hearing loss Hear me out. Filmed by students Karla Marinko, Marta Skejo, Jan Radanović, Patrik Pažur and Ruben Finderle, mentored by assistant professor Marina Milković, this 47-minute film presents the life stories of four young people related to hearing loss - each in their own way. The aim of the documentary is to introduce the public to people with hearing loss, to show the heterogeneity of the population and to raise awareness of the difficulties they face. The documentary presents three completely deaf people with different life stories; Matija, Mirana and Ivona, and also Ivana, a hearing child of deaf adults (CODA) who brings an insight of the Deaf world in a special way. Matija is a deaf child of hearing parents who has a cochlear implant, uses speech only and has completely melted in the dominant hearing culture. For him, there is no division between the hearing world and the Deaf world, and he says: "The hearing world is my world!" The bridge between Matija and Ivona is Mirana, a deaf child of deaf parents who has a cochlear implant and uses sign language and speech. She represents the bicultural identity of a person who enjoys belonging to the Deaf community, but also to the hearing world. In a special way, the story of the Deaf is told by Ivana, the hearing child of deaf adults, CODA. CODAs have a special place in the Deaf community because they are often the bridge that connects both worlds. These people were interviewed with a set of questions that were individually adapted to get them to share their life stories and experiences with deafness itself, growing up, education, friendships and love relationships.