Apple Original Films announces disability-themed doc feature Deaf President Now!

Deaf President Now! is produced by Concordia Studio

Apple Original Films has announced new factual film Deaf President Now! which recounts the events of a little-known US civil rights movement.

Produced by Concordia Studio (Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie) and set to stream on AppleTV+, it details the eight days of historic protests held at Gallaudet University, Washington D.C., in 1988, after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several qualified deaf candidates.

After a week of rallies and boycotts and protests, the students triumphed as the hearing president resigned and dean Dr. I. King Jordan became the university’s first deaf president.

Nyle Dimarco, producer and co-director, said: “For far too long, the disabilities stories that have shaped the US have been conspicuously absent from the history we tell.

“This film not only preserves a pivotal moment in civil rights history but also celebrates the resilience of my deaf community, whose triumphs deserve to be recognised, celebrated and remembered.”