Love You To Deaf

Created by michael yanny, The Pitch 2023

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Description

...is a bittersweet comedy about Ray Ellis, a born deaf man who has gone ahead with the life changing state of the art cochlear implant surgery to gain his hearing. Set over the first week of his life post op we follow his overwhelming first steps of discovery of the world with sound. But what he hasn’t accounted for, is the betrayal his born deaf wife and their deaf community feel he has committed. He becomes a pariah and all alone. He has lost the love of his life, his wife. In the downward spiral of his grief, he has a close shave with death, and ends up back where story begins, in hospital. However as he awakes he concludes that maybe life with sound isn’t what’s it’s cracked up to be and switches off his hearing. Moments later his wife returns to tell him, she has decided to have the surgery too so they can experience the new world with sound together. Months later, side be side they switch on their hearing... and discover... they can’t stand the sound of each other’s voices.

Biblical Connection

I have taken a verse from the gospel of Matthew chapter 16 verse 26: “what does it merit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul." as my overall theme. We start the film as Ray wakes up from state-of-the-art cochlear implant surgery, a 50th birthday present to himself, and follow his first steps of discovery into a world with sound. But with the gaining of his hearing, he loses the things that makes him truly rich, the love of his life, his wife Jennifer and the support of the deaf community. Shunned from his society and made a praiah, he becomes lost in the noise of the world and his rejection. However for a comedy this is not such a hopeful place to end, so my story takes on a twist with inspiration from another parable 'the treasure in a field'. He is ready to give it all up for his wife... But wait a minute maybe she was being too hasty with her judgement... She's ready to join him too. However as they both gain they're not prepared for what they are about to discover...