There was a retrospective here recently, of the documentaries of the French filmmaker, Niclolas Philibert. The film's subjects are communities somehow--if just--marginalized: the workers at the Louvre, from curators to floor sweepers (a fully automated machine); a small, rural psychiatric hospital, a one room school, and, simply, the deaf. "In the Land of the Deaf" profiles a number of individuals and their communities, and elegantly shows their struggles in a hearing world, their joys... I mention it here, because it is a wonderful opportunity to watch signing; most of the interviews are conducted in Sign. And among them, a signing teacher relates all sorts of things with tremendous humor which, with the help of sub-titles, is readily accessible to the non-signing viewer as sign. This teacher maintains that each country has its own sign language and that it takes a couple of days to get used to it, when traveling. However, after a couple of days they can sign like compatriots. He then goes on quite a roll about the difficulties hearing people have in the same situation -- even with dictionaries and phrase books. It's hilarious. ...

For those who don't know him (as I didn't) , Philibert is a wonderful filmmaker. I won't go on about why -- it may be difficult to find his work. I know that "To Be and To Have" (about the school) has been released on DVD in Canada. "In the Land of the Deaf" has been released on VHS.