Powered by the recent success at the Malaga Festival and his passage through the Berlinale, Deaf arrives in theaters this Friday, already becoming one of the films of the year. Eva Libertad portrays a beautiful love story, which transforms when the couple decides to have a child. The fact that she is deaf and he is hearing—extraordinary Miriam Garlo and Álvaro Cervantes, award-winners in Málaga—conditions everything: the reaction of the grandparents, friends, even the doctors, and once again places the protagonist in the eternal struggle against society's barriers. How will the parents communicate with their daughter? The director manages to convey the feeling of vulnerability through the screen in the most tense situations—such as the birth scene—and with some surprising sound effects. Miriam Garlo, the director's sister, is the first deaf actress to star in a Spanish film and Deaf It's the first film in the state to be fully accessible to the deaf. We conducted the interview with the help of a sign language interpreter to sign my questions; although Garlo reads lips and speaks perfectly, he always signs his answers.

The Malaga Film Festival continues to be a good time for Catalan cinema, which once again dominates the awards list by a landslide. Catalan productions Deaf, The Turtles, The fury and Very far They take a good part of the awards in the official section, and the film Breakfast with me, by playwright Ivan Morales, has swept the Zonacine section. The Golden Bisnaga for best film has gone to Deaf, directed by Eva Libertad, which also took home the Audience Award; in addition, the film's two leads, Murcia's Miriam Garlo and Barcelona's Álvaro Cervantes, won the awards for Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively. In Garlo's case, she shared the award with Ángela Cervantes, for The fury. A big party at Can Cervantes, then. The men's category has also been ex aequo, because in addition to the role of Álvaro Cervantes in Deaf has recognized Mario Casas in Very far, his first film in Catalan.

Angela and Hector have created an almost perfect world. Their love is a shell of affection and trust that makes them invincible, or so it seems until motherhood endangers this bubble of happiness. The story sounds familiar, almost universal, but director Eva Libertad adds a component that changes everything: Angela is deaf and Hector is not. The Catalan production Deaf, which premieres this Saturday in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, takes as its reference the point of view of Ángela, who is played with absolute dedication by Miriam Garlo, the director's sister and the first deaf actress to star in a film in Spain. "Society does not educate us to relate to difference or disability," says Libertad. "If I know anything about deafness it is because Miriam is my sister. It is as if, without knowing it, we had been preparing all our lives to make this film."

Angela and Hector have created an almost perfect world. Their love is a shell of affection and trust that makes them invincible, or so it seems until motherhood endangers this bubble of happiness. The story sounds familiar, almost universal, but director Eva Libertad adds a component that changes everything: Angela is deaf and Hector is not. The Catalan production Deaf, which premieres this Saturday in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, takes as its reference the point of view of Ángela, who is played with absolute dedication by Miriam Garlo, the director's sister and the first deaf actress to star in a film in Spain. "Society does not educate us to relate to difference or disability," says Libertad. "If I know anything about deafness it is because Miriam is my sister. It is as if, without knowing it, we had been preparing all our lives to make this film."