Visiting researcher from Spain highlights sign language, Deaf experience in his films

Veru Rodríguez, a filmmaker, screenwriter, and educator, will teach film courses and create a documentary in collaboration with Nuestra Casa and other campus partners as a Visiting Scholar this fall. 

Rodríguez grew up in what he describes as a “humble fishing neighborhood” on the Spanish island of Tenerife, where he was immersed in a mix of cultures and languages. Growing up with his parents and uncle, all Deaf, and a hearing brother, he strongly embraces his identity as a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). “The enormous presence of deaf cultural manifestations during my childhood was determinant in my enculturation process,” he says. “Living between two cultures had a strong impact on my own perception of my cultural identity and my language.”

“In our home, Deaf culture and Spanish Sign Language (LSE) were always present,” says Rodríguez. He was exposed to even more signed languages and cultures due to Tenerife’s status as a popular tourist destination. Through his father, Rodríguez’s family was in frequent contact with deaf people from other European countries. “This ethnographic life experience not only shaped my identity, but has also profoundly influenced my work,” he says.

His explorations of film began with his father, who documented family memories with a Super 8 celluloid camera. “There was something hidden in them that needed to be developed. Over time, my passion for cinema and audiovisual media led me to train and work in the audiovisual, cinematographic, and cultural world.”

Cinema rooted in deaf perspectives

Rodríguez says his immersion in Deaf culture and LSE at home led him to his career in film, employing Deaf perspectives and actors, sign language, and film technique. “Filmmaking in sign language requires a critical look that goes beyond conventional film theories…It has its own format and its own characteristics. It is a cinema that is born from the cultural and linguistic framework of the Deaf community,” he explains.

Rodríguez is not only a specialist in film direction, language, and scriptwriting, but he has also been an educator and a researcher for over twelve years, working on projects in Spain, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Peru. Since 2012, he has headed up IDendeaf – LS Film Production and Training, a project that aims to train and create fiction films using sign language as both a narrative and a communicative element. Rodríguez has been recognized in the international film festival circuit, winning numerous awards for the first sitcom made in LSE, Mírame cuando te hablo (2014), and for short films Las muelas del cuco (2016) and CODA (2018). His most recent work, Money & Ducks (2023), is in Spanish, Argentinian, and Chilean sign languages.

He has directed a variety of television shows in Spain and received the prestigious award, Mestre Mateo Award for Best Director in 2018, awarded by the Galician Audiovisual Academy. He recently published a research article on the key approaches of filmmaking in relation to sign language.

Next up: an autumn of sharing expertise

Along with faculty hosts Dr. Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, Professor Scott Carollo, and Dr. Carla García-Fernández, ’92, the Gallaudet community extends a warm welcome to Rodríguez. 

García-Fernández says, “Nuestra Casa is excited to welcome Veru Rodríguez to our research team as we embark on a documentary film project. This initiative is part of a visual research method designed to empower researchers to capture authentic voices and lived experiences. Stay tuned for the announcement of the final documentary film!”

Rodríguez looks forward to fall semester at Gallaudet, saying, “I sincerely hope that my contribution to the knowledge of the cinematic arts will be of great benefit to both the students and the university, which I consider a resource to the world.” 

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Gallaudet offers a documentary film minor and a vibrant International Visiting Scholars program.