Coming soon: Egypt's first film with hearing-impaired cast
In a first for Egyptian cinema, director Ahmed Afifi has shot a version of his film in sign language starring hearing-impaired actors.
For the first time in the history of Egyptian cinema, a movie will be filmed in two versions, with one exclusively starring deaf and hearing-impaired actors.
This unique idea came to film director Ahmed Afifi when he found out — and was shocked by — how many Egyptians are hearing-impaired.
"I was really shocked when I found out that there are millions of [hearing-impaired] people in Egypt. Imagine how those people are not represented in or cannot even understand our works," Afifi told Al-Monitor.
There is no recent information about the number of deaf and hearing-impaired people in Egypt, but a 2007 assessment by the World Health Organization estimated that hearing loss is prevalent in 16% of the country's population. They put the number at 13 million people across all age groups.
