BURBANK—On Thursday, September 4, “No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie” will play at AMC Burbank Town Center 8. “No Ordinary Hero” follows the deaf superhero, SuperDeafy, who has been played by famed deaf actor John Maucere for the last 15 years. Canyon News spoke to one of the producers, Douglas Matejka, about the film.
SuperDeafy is a loveable deaf hero who first came to life through renowned deaf actor, John Maucere, who has been a popular entertainer in the deaf community. “Since being created by Maucere, SuperDeafy has always focused on helping those in need. Eventually, Maucere hatched the idea for a feature film with Executive producers Liz Tannebaum and Paul Maucere,” Matejka informed.
When searching for information on SuperDeafy, links to Maucere’s past work were virtually non-existent, but Matejka explained that the previous SuperDeafy was once primarily aimed at children who would laugh at his clumsiness and small blunders, but have since been withdrawn in an attempt to draw in a broader audience.
Matejka and his wife, Taly Ravid, who wrote the script, are new to the deaf community, but the idea was presented to them in 2013, by producer Hilari Scarl. Ravid, who works primarily as a ghost writer and a teacher at UCLA, took an astonishing week to complete the script. Ravid wanted to create a story that mattered, and strove to learn all sides and challenges within the deaf community; by understanding deaf family matters and issues regularly faced on a daily basis.
“No Ordinary Hero” was the first deaf film that Matejka produced. The film’s success was “a total team effort consisting of Director Troy Kotsur, Executive producers Liz Tannebaum, Paul Maucere, John Maucere, all of whom are deaf; and producers Scarl” and Matejka. Scarl is best known for the documentary “See What I’m Saying.” Matejka lamented the fact that Scarl could not be on the call, and explained that “she has been working passionately from a young age to create content within and about the deaf community.”
When “No Ordinary Hero” debuted at the Heartland Festival in 2013, it went over well with all audiences, Matejka indicated. All four showings of the film during the festival were filled to their capacity and two additional screenings were added. Despite being a film that, “on the surface, caters to the deaf community, the film resonates with hearing audiences as well. Additionally, the film has audio descriptions for the blind.” The film features open captioning, which prohibits film distributors from screening the film without captions, Matejka said. “The captions can be replaced with captions in other languages, but they’re always there.”
The screening of the movie will be shown at AMC Burbank Town Center 8 at 6:30 p.m. – 8:18 p.m. It is located on 201 E. Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, California. Tickets can be purchased athttp://www.tugg.com/events/10344 for $10 general admission.
