Emilio Insolera

"I myself regard the deaf people as superheroes, protectors of the visual language."

"The eye of the deaf sees what is invisible to the eye of the hearing."

"Our diversity is our superpower."

"My deafness is my superpower."

"From the director to the international cast, all of them are from deaf families for generations, while the film industry usually entrusts these roles to audacious interpreters that end up being bad imitators of the Sign language."

"“My first impression was that I had stumbled into the future, but as a linguist I was also instantly fascinated with Japanese and how it has a relationship with sign language. Kanji are usually concepts or ideas and then hiragana acts as a bridge for communication It’s the same with sign language: We use fingerspelling (spelling out the alphabet with your hands) between our conceptual signs."

"I’ve often felt visual communicators have superhero-like qualities."

"You can see the existence of these beautiful signed languages which are incredibly visual, and they require space, they require space to grow."

"Italian language is not just sonore. It is also visual."

"Sign Gene's director (Emilio Insolera) met up with Tokyo Journal in Shibuya whilst en route to the NHK studios. The director turns out to be a lively character, one, perhaps unsurprisingly, with a sense for physical and situational humor."

"The greatest merit of Sign Gene is to break the veil that separates the audiences from the mysterious and fascinating world of the deaf, just as it did at the party in the Odeon auditorium, all united from that silent toast, from that speaking animatedly without voice, from that mimic joy in which we – incapable of communicating – were the only outsiders, the unique dis/ables, mutes like fishes in a very capable and alien society. Yes, if wanted to subvert, Insolera made the centerpiece."

"Emilio Insolera’s “Sign Gene” gave the world its first deaf superheroes. But after writing, directing, producing and starring in the film himself, you might argue that Insolera is the one with the superpowers."

"Insolera’s efforts are equal to that of any Marvel star."