Main Content Region

ASL Movies

American Sign Language Movies

To check out a movie, please bring your Coyote ID to the main desk in UH-007.  All movies must be watched in the Multimedia Language Center.  Please remember, food and drinks are not allowed. 

ASL Movies
Title Description
Children Of a Lesser God Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds (William Hurt) meets Sarah Norman (Marlee Matlin), a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. A romance slowly develops between the pair in spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state due in part to her difficult relationship with her mother (Piper Laurie). Matlin, who is deaf in real life, won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this, her first film role.
Dummy Hoy: a Deaf Hero A courageous boy becomes a legend.
Hammer, The Deaf wrestler Matt Hamill (Russell Harvard) overcomes numerous obstacles on the way to becoming a three-time NCAA champion and MMA fighter.
Johnny Belinda In this acclaimed drama, Belinda McDonald (Jane Wyman), a young deaf-mute woman living off the coast of Canada on Cape Breton Island, becomes close to the new local doctor, Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres). When Belinda is raped by a customer at her family's farm and becomes pregnant, many suspect Dr. Richardson. Seeking to start over in a new location with Belinda, he leaves town to find a new home, but more conflicts ensue, further jeopardizing their happiness.
Learning ASL  
Miracle Worker, The Blind and deaf after suffering a terrible fever as a baby, young Helen Keller (Patty Duke) has spent years unable to communicate, leaving her frustrated and occasionally violent. As a last chance before she is institutionalized, her parents (Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine) contact a school for the blind, which sends half-blind Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft) to teach Helen. Helen is initially resistant, but Annie gradually forms a bond with her and shows Helen ways of reaching others.
Mr. Holland's Opus Composer Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) believes that he'll eventually write a transcendent piece of music, but in the meantime he's taken a job at an Oregon high school. Though at first the job frustrates him, and his unconventional methods often draw the ire of the straight-laced vice principal (W.H. Macy), Mr. Holland grows to love his students as the 'temporary' position stretches into a decades-long career -- and in the end, they reveal just how much they love him back.
Sound And Fury Cousins Heather and Peter Artinian, ages 6 and almost 2, respectively, are deaf. Their condition could be changed by a cochlear implant, a device that stimulates hearing. The benefits are obvious, but this documentary focuses on why the children's families face a tough decision.
Story of Esther Costello, The A terrible accident leaves Esther Costello (Heather Sears) blind, deaf, mute and without a mother. Living in squalor with her aunt in Ireland, Esther is rescued by a kind American, Margaret Landi (Joan Crawford). Margaret brings the girl back with her to Boston. There, Esther learns how to use sign language and blossoms into a lovely young woman. But her life darkens when Margaret's scheming husband, Carlo (Rossano Brazzi), comes back into the picture.
Switched at Birth 6-7 Tells the story of two teen girls who discover that they were accidentally switched at birth. Bay Kennish grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother, while Daphne Vasquez, who lost her hearing as a child due to a case of meningitis, grew up with a single mother in a poor neighborhood. Things come to a dramatic head when both families meet and struggle to learn how to live together for the sake of the girls.
Through Deaf Eyes Is a two-hour HDTV documentary for PBS exploring nearly 200 years of Deaf life in America. The film presents the shared experiences of American history—family life, education, work, and community connections—from the perspective of deaf citizens.