Elliot C. Williams
Millstone, a new short film and dark thriller shot in Northwest D.C. and featuring CODA star Daniel Durant, is filmed entirely in American Sign Language. But according to its director and writer, Peter Kimball, that’s not the point.
“One thing that was really important to me about this film was that it has nothing to do with them being deaf,” Kimball says. “That’s not mentioned. It’s not explained. It’s not part of the plot. It just happens to be that that’s who these characters are.”
Kimball, who teaches film at George Mason and American universities, says that while film is personal to him — he has a son who is deaf — he mostly wanted to craft a suspenseful story.
[Spoilers ahead:] Millstone’s plot centers on a young couple who have lost their 5-year-old son in a hit-and-run collision. The couple is so desperate to overcome their grief, they’re willing to see a therapist with a completely unique process — one that involves some off-the-wall experimentation. By the end, it becomes increasingly clear that trusting this therapist’s method comes with serious risks.
The Bible verse Luke 17:2 appears at the end: “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should hurt one of these little ones.”
Kimball likened the film to foreign language films such as Parasite — the Korean dark comedy that took the world, and awards shows, by storm in 2019 — in that it tackles universal issues such as parenting and loss. He says once audiences become more open to movies with subtitles, their creative worlds can expand. [Disclosure: AU holds the license for DCist’s parent company, WAMU.]
Kimball wrote the script in English, but told the cast to “make it their own.” They shot the 16-minute film in one day last November, and Kimball says he intentionally framed each shot so that the actors’ hands were visible while they signed. Afterwards, the producers enlisted language consultants to help with post-production work, including translating the subtitles. While it doesn’t feature any recognizable shots of D.C. locations — it’s set entirely in one room in a house, Kimball’s own home, in fact — the director says he has high hopes for future filmmaking in the region.
“As a D.C.-based filmmaker, I’m excited to make more films in this area,” he says. “I think great work can be done here in D.C. and not just in LA.”
Millstone features three cast members, all of whom are deaf. The most recognizable is Daniel Durant, a Gallaudet University alum who plays Mike, half of the struggling couple. Durant rose to fame most recently for his role in Oscar award-winning CODA, which was filmed 40% in ASL. Gary Brooks, a co-producer on Millstone, taught Durant while at Gallaudet.
CODA, the Apple TV film about a hearing member of a deaf family, won three Academy Awards last month, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Troy Kotsur), and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film had several “firsts” on Oscar night, including first streaming service to win Best Picture and first deaf male actor to win an Oscar.
Kimball said that CODA‘s success is a sign that Hollywood is making big strides in terms of exposure for the Deaf community.
“What’s important to me about Millstone is that it’s hopefully going the next step and saying, we don’t even need a hearing person in this,” Kimball says. “We don’t need to ground this in the hearing world or in English. This can exist entirely in sign language.”
Another of Kimball’s films, My Brother Is Deaf — a documentary about his family — won Best Short Documentary at the DC Independent Film Festival in March. His work has also appeared in major film festivals like DC Shorts, LA Shorts, and Slamdance, and he hopes to find a home for Millstone in one of those festivals. Kimball wants the film to start showing sometime in the fall or winter.
“It’s important to me that people not look at this as a disabled film,” Kimball says of Millstone, “but rather, this is in a different language.”
