Kimby Caplan

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Kimby Caplan (March 12th, 1974, Phoenix, Arizona) is an American filmmaker who brought the question of what it means to be deaf in the 21st century to national attention.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Caplan was born in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1975 the Caplan family moved to Denver, Colorado. Shortly after the move, Kimby's paternal grandmother visited and discerned that the thirteen month old baby was deaf. Fortuitously, Porter Memorial Hospital in Denver was home to one of the most progressive audio-verbal clinics in North America. The clinic, which was spearheaded by Doreen Pollack, was at the forefront of putting hearing aids on babies and young children.

Beginning in the late 1940s, audiology and the study of hearing loss became a field of study, in response to the number of servicemen returning from WWII with hearing loss. This field rapidly escalated in terms of hearing aid development for adults. However, at this time Doreen Pollack (and those with whom she worked) were pioneers in placing hearing aids on babies and young children; with the hope that there was some residual hearing that could be developed. Pollack believed strongly in encouraging hearing parents to give their children a chance to utilize whatever hearing might remain. Pollack worked extensively with Kimby and her parents from 1975-1979 to help her develop her residual hearing and subsequent language. In 1979 Kimby's parents divorced and Kimby moved with her mother to Angel Fire, New Mexico. During the next ten years she made yearly visits to Colorado to be assessed by Pollack, who encouraged her continued speech development.

While in New Mexico, Kimby's mother worked on various Indian reservations as a part-time pharmacist, with Kimby in tow. Home was an army pup tent located halfway between Angel Fire and Eagle Nest. Kimby was at times in school and otherwise, homeschooled. The remainder of her time was spent skiing at the local Angel Fire and Taos ski resorts. This partly nomadic and unusual lifestyle, did much to influence the creative perspective that is often evident in Kimby's filmmaking.

[edit] College/Graduate School

Kimby attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where she was exposed to the experimental and personal filmmaking of Stacy Steers, Patti Bruck, Stan Brakhage, and Phil Solomon. She went on to make four experimental short films, three of which received a Goldfarb award which is the highest honor possible as determined by faculty. One of these tied for a Golden Glove (best student film as determined by the student body). This is a record as yet unbroken; and these four films (alongside two others) now reside in a permanent collection, in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' Film Archive at the Mary Pickford Center in Los Angeles, California.

After graduating with a BFA in 1999, Kimby moved to Park City, Utah, where she volunteered at the Sundance Film Festival and worked as a ski instructor at Deer Valley Ski Resort. After several years of being inspired by the film scene at Sundance, Kimby enrolled in the Cinema-Television program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. For her master's project at Southern Methodist University she made the documentary film, LISTEN, that brought her national acclaim. LISTEN chronicled, on a personal level, the journey her parents took with Doreen Pollack (an internationally recognized audio-verbal therapist to the profoundly deaf). This 45 minute documentary is at times profound, historically enlightening, comedic, and touching. LISTEN went on to win a first place at an Academy accredited festival, The Black Maria, and received a 2005 Student Academy Award (Bronze medal in the documentary category). Excerpts have aired on ABC, NBC, and PBS; in addition to touring the country and showing at museums and universities across the country. Most remarkably,the film was at the crest of a wave of public interest in the world of the Deaf and the hearing impaired. This interest has led to increased information and media attention to cochlear implant technology, and the Deaf Pride that is now most evident at Gallaudet University (the nation's premiere university for the culturally deaf) in Washington, DC.

Currently Kimby Caplan is attending the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, specializing in cinematography. She continues to work on experimental films, documentaries and narratives that she feels will contribute in positive ways to the advancement of those who are marginalized.

[edit] Trivia

Kimby Caplan is one of the first, if not the first deaf individual, to make a personal documentary on the experience of being profoundly deaf.

[edit] Filmography

  • Escorted by a Butterfly (1995)
  • Requiem (1996)
  • Prevue 8 (1996)
  • Texas (1997)
  • The Art of Hearing (1998)
  • Director Dreaming (1999)
  • The Yawning (2003)
  • Chasing down the Monkey G-d (2004)
  • LISTEN (2004-2005)
  • My Desert Song (Unfinished)
  • Unexpected Voices (2006-)
  • In the Country I Remember (anticipated completion spring 2007)