In October 2000, the film “Sound and Fury” was released and shown in film festivals around the United States . The story of two brothers in an extended third generation deaf family was a raw and poignant look inside the choices that families of deaf children face. The choices initially tore the families apart.
The movie focused on the Artinian family: Peter and Chris Artinian are brothers, sons of hearing parents. Peter and his wife, Nita, are both deaf. They have three deaf children, Heather, Timothy and C.J. Chris is hearing and is married to a hearing woman, Mari, whose parents are deaf and use American Sign Language to communicate. Chris and Mari are the parents of Emily, Christopher and Peter (twins), and Joey and Nicholas (also twins). Their son Peter (named after Chris’ brother and grandfather, so Peter is Peter III) is also deaf. “Sound and Fury” followed both families as they explored choices for their children, with one set of parents choosing the implant option( Chris and Mari) and the other opted not to (Peter and Nita.)
Six years later, another documentary featured 12-year-old Heather and a glimpse of her day-to-day life.
Karen Putz from Hands & Voices did a follow up with the families: Sound and Fury: A Family Comes Together Again.
Today, Heather is a junior at Georgetown University and she recently did a TED Talk there:
