The Silent Child

The Silent Child
Film poster
Directed byChris Overton
Written byRachel Shenton
Produced by
Starring
  • Rachel Shenton
  • Maisie Sly
  • Rachel Fielding
  • Philip York
CinematographyAli Farahani
Edited byEmily Walder
Music byAmir Konjani
Production
company
Slick Films
Release date
  • 8 August 2017 (2017-08-08) (US)
Running time
20 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguagesEnglish and British Sign Language

The Silent Child is a British sign language short film written by and starring Rachel Shenton and directed by Chris Overton, and released in 2017 by Slick Films. It tells the story of Libby, a profoundly deaf six-year-old girl, who lives a silent life until a social worker, played by Shenton, teaches her how to communicate through sign language. The film won the Oscar for Live Action Short Film at the 90th Academy Awards. The film's television debut was on BBC One to an audience of 3.6 million, the film then received an extended period on BBC iPlayer.