Listening With Their Eyes

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Originally aired on PBS in 2008, and magnificently filmed in New York City, this award-winning film documents the amazing transformations of a group of diverse teenagers who work with acclaimed Communication Coach and author, Gail Noppe-Brandon. Through the study of acting and playwriting, they find their way past language barriers, learning challenges, and everyday social discomforts to discover their voices- by learning to listen to one another, and to themselves.

In only 10 weeks, using theatre as a tool, these students, who had never acted or written a play before, become impressive communicators. This captivating film offers an exciting new way of looking at teaching and learning through the individual struggles and breakthroughs of teens like Michael, who always needs the spotlight, Elsa who avoids it, Natasha who at twenty is still trying to finish high school, and JB who barely speaks English. The film also helps raise awareness of the crucial need to inculcate ‘emotional intelligence’ and a relationship-based approach to teaching. These inspiring empathic portraits of the kind of youngsters we too often label… and then give up on… will forever change the way you think about what it really means to be literate.

For over twenty years, Find Your Voice, Inc. (FYV), a Communications Coaching Center in New York City, has successfully enabled thousands of inner city students and their teachers to speak, write and listen with craft and passion, using the technique to enhance these skills in the classroom, while simultaneously endowing the social skills needed to function in every environment. FYV has endeavored to enhance dialogue across the lifespan, from kindergarten to graduate classrooms, business programs, and community centers for seniors. Initially developed at New York University and disseminated through the Children’s Aid Society, FYV has earned a President’s Council on the Humanities citation, and five Carnegie grants for Excellence in the Field. Take a cinematic journey that has moved audiences to tears, and inspired one reviewer to site, “there are moments in Listening With Their Eyes that quietly break your heart, revealing a potential in young people both enormous and untapped.” (Marisa Suescun, Education Update “Gail Noppe-Brandon: The Art & Power of Successful Student Communication”).

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Director: Gail Noppe-Brandon (Lynn Wright Special Recognition Award, AATE, 2004 and Drama League Award for New Work, 2000) Writer: Amy Fox (Heights, Merchant Ivory Productions) Editors: Amanda Laws (Wasserman Award, 2007); Jen Polk (Family Plots, A&E) Cinematographers: Sam Shinn (Dorothy Day: Don’t Call Me a Saint, Tribeca Film Festival, 2006 and Children of the Plague, Emmy Award); John Foster (Tully, Keane, Fur) Composer: Sasha Gordon (Padre Nuestro, Sundance Grand Jury Winner, 2007 and Lawrence, Tribeca Film Festival, 2007) Producer: Sudie Anning (Reading Rainbow, PBS, Four-time Emmy Award winner) Executive Producer: Find Your Voice, Inc. (Otto Award for Social Theatre, 1997, Anne Flagg Award for Multiculturalism, AATE, 2000, Carnegie Awards for Excellence in the Field, 2003 – 2007) Underwriters: Petersmeyer Family Foundation; Bernice and Milton Stern Foundation Awards: The Chris Award for Excellence (in the Children & Youth category) Film Festivals: Columbus International Film & Video Festival 2008