Name Me Lawand

Lawand is a deaf 5-year-old boy from Iraq whose family goes to great lengths to move to England and enroll him at the Royal School for the Deaf Derby. There, he begins to blossom, but could-he stay and continue his education? The filmmaker combines a roaming camera with a transcendent sound design to envelope viewers in an interior world largely absent of spoken language.

"Five-year-old Lawand is on a quest to find a world where there are people like him - people who will understand him. Since birth, Lawand has been profoundly Deaf and unable to communicate with those around him. He undertakes a treacherous journey with his family from Iraq to Derby, home of the Royal School for the Deaf. But this new life soon comes under threat when the family face deportation. Along with members of the Derby community, they begin a new quest - a fight to stay in the place they now call home. Employing a striking visual style that frames Lawand’s development, from being voiceless to a voice representing others in the D/deaf community, Lovelace’s (The Possibilities Are Endless, LFF 2014) documentary is an inspirational and touching coming-of-age story."
(Lynn Nwokorie - BFI London Film Festival)