Premieres Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
POV recounts the powerful story of Lawand, a young Kurdish boy, deaf since birth and his transformative journey to communicate through learning British Sign Language (BSL) in "Name Me Lawand."
The protagonist of the film, deaf since birth, is a five-year-old boy whose future in Iraq looks destined to be limited and lonely. In desperate search of a better life in a world where he can communicate, his parents decide to leave their home. After a perilous trek to England and a year in a Dunkirk refugee camp, the help of a deaf volunteer brings them to Derby, where Lawand joins the Royal School for the Deaf.
As he grows older, the film follows his dramatic progress learning British Sign Language, revealing a bright, charismatic and inquisitive boy who discovers friendship and a new way to express himself. But just as Lawand is joyfully finding his place in the world, will the British government allow the family to stay or face deportation?
Employing a striking lyrical and observational visual style, and an ambient score, writer/director Edward Lovelace spent four years filming Lawand and learning British Sign Language, truly immersing himself in Lawand’s world.
In this moving and inspiring portrait, Lovelace follows Lawand’s evolution from extreme isolation to vibrant self-expression. This is a story about the strength and freedom that language gives us (whatever form it takes), a family’s unconditional love, and the power of friendship and community.
Filmmaker Quotes:
“Telling Lawand and Rawa that one day their story would be shared outside of their local community, and maybe even across the world, was a magical moment,” said Director Edward Lovelace. “To see them begin to believe that their journey, that their light, would be celebrated by a large audience changed them. I could see it. I think they felt seen, and felt like their resilience and self belief wasn’t invisible. POV broadcasting their story is the realization of that dream. That is its significance. It’s everything to them and to the film team.”
"Director Edward Lovelace pushes the boundaries of storytelling in his beautiful, cinematic film “Name Me Lawand," said Chris White, Executive Producer, POV. "He uses the power of the medium to, both, document and emulate Lawand’s experience as a deaf child so audiences don't look at him but empathize with him. The spirited film also demonstrates the lengths parents will go to ensure their children can embrace with confidence their true selves.”
Film Awards:
"Name Me Lawand" made its world premiere at the 2022 BFI London Film Festival receiving a Best Feature Documentary nomination. At Hot Docs 2023 the film won the Special Jury Prize for Best International Feature, the Top 20 Audience Award and was nominated for a Docs for School Award. Other accolades include the ReelAbilities Accessibility Award at the 2023 ReelAbilities Film Festival, and the Checkpoints Human Rights Documentary Award and Youth Award at the 2023 Bergen International Film Festival. In 2024, the documentary took home the Best Feature Documentary - Jury Award at the Budapest International Documentary Festival; Best Documentary - Grand Prize at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights; and Best Feature Documentary at the RiverRun International Film Festival. It won the Children’s Resilience in Film Award at the 2023 Shine Global Children’s Resilience in Film Awards. The film was nominated for the Refugee Reporting Award at the 2023 One World Media Awards; the Documentary Film Campaign of the Year at The Big Screen Awards 2023; the Best Documentary at the 2023 GRIERSON British Documentary Awards 2023; and the Raindance Maverick Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2023.
“This affecting coming-of-age doc is as pure and literal a manifestation of ‘finding your voice’ as you’ll see.”–Time Out
“A moving, impressionistic piece that immerses us in the world of the titular Kurdish boy”– Cineuropa
#NameMeLawandPBS
Watch On Your Schedule: "Name Me Lawand" will be available to stream until Dec. 8, 2024 at pbs.org, and the PBS app. In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities.
Credits: A Pulse Films production with support from BFI Doc Society Fund (awarding National Lottery funding) and Electric Shadow Company, directed and written by Edward Lovelace. The producers are Fleur Nieddu, Sam Arnold, Beyan Taher, Neil Andrews, Marisa Clifford and Edward Lovelace. The cinematographer is Ben Fordesman. The editors are David Charap, Shahnaz Dulaimy, Michael Nollet and David Whitakker. The executive producers are Thomas Benski, Tim O'Shea, Diene Petterle, Lisa Marie Russo, Kwesi Dickson, Isabel Freer, and Erika Dilday and Chris White for American Documentary | POV.
