Watch: Film celebrates bilingual anthology by deaf and disabled writers

A short film has been released which explores the insights and processes behind a new anthology featuring the work of 31 deaf and disabled writers from Wales.

The new film was co-produced by AM and Lucent Dreaming to celebrate ‘Beyond/Tu Hwnt’, which is published today.

‘Beyond/Tu Hwnt’ is a bilingual anthology edited by Bethany Handley, Megan Angharad Hunter and Sioned Erin Hughes, featuring writing by some of Wales’ leading deaf and disabled voices.

This film offers an opportunity to discover more about the anthology’s importance and the process behind its inception, featuring insights from the editors and contributors Joshua Jones and Caitlin Tina Jones..

“Otherism”

According to the people behind the book: “For Deaf and Disabled writers, the context is immutable. Deaf and Disabled people are currently being scapegoated, silenced and dehumanised in the media and by politicians. Our human and legal rights are being violated.

“Disabled people are being forced to fight for our survival. Beyond is a collection of work by Welsh Deaf and Disabled writers writing back.

“We are resisting the forced silencing to build community and solidarity. This bilingual anthology builds community by presenting our voices together, celebrating our joy, our experiences, our defiance at a time when it is radical to do so.”

“There is currently nothing like this anthology in Wales. The Deaf and Disabled community is sporadically spread across Wales.

“Beyond draws our voices together from throughout Wales to say this is our community and our voices belong together. Together, we write beyond the boundaries of our inaccessible and ableist society. Together, we write.”

“Vital”

Sioned Erin Hughes said: The process of collating the work by the writers and poets was so a powerful and close to the bone.

“They were all so generous with their experiences and so passionate about the anthology’s mission, which is to show that the Disabled community is extremely dynamic and has such wonderful riches to share with the world – riches which often have orginiated from a feeling of societal otherism.

“It was therefore vital, for us as editors, that the anthology had a further documentation to be shared with the world – so we’re extremely grateful to AM and Ffion for stepping in and offering to create a short film to further promote the anthology. We’re enormously indebted to them”.

The film was directed by Ffion Pritchard, co-produced by AM and Lucent Dreaming, and funded by Books Council of Wales’ New Audiences Fund.

Helen Foulkes provided BSL and subtitles, with additional support from Nyth and Wales Millenium Centre.

Watch the film on AM and buy ‘Beyond/Tu Hwnt’ here.