Breaking Silence follows Walker Estes, a prison chaplain in the US state of Louisiana, as he assists Deaf people who are incarcerated by helping them to understand their rights, overcome communication barriers and even establish stable lives after their release. Described by his daughter Leslie as a man ‘always seeking to improve the lives of others’, Estes’s impassioned advocacy stems from his life as a Deaf man and from Leslie’s experience navigating the criminal justice system. Both a sensitive portrait of institutional marginalisation and an affecting study of family dynamics, the film holds room for both collective and personal struggle – as well as positive change.
videoDemography and migration
The volunteers who offer a last line of care for migrants at a contentious border
30 minutes
videoPersonality
A ‘little thief’ turned career criminal recounts a life on the wrong side of the law
5 minutes
videoHuman rights and justice
Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home
10 minutes
videoLanguage and linguistics
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language?
9 minutes
videoVirtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes
videoLanguage and linguistics
Why Susan listens to recordings of herself speaking a language she no longer remembers
5 minutes
videoVirtues and vices
Why Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith were divided on the virtues of vanity
5 minutes
videoPolitical philosophy
The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom
21 minutes
videoHuman rights and justice
When a burial for slave trade victims is unearthed, a small island faces a reckoning
29 minutes