Unsilenced

There’s a powerful message hidden in this music video, and you have the power to unsilence Billy.

For more than 70m deaf people who depend on sign language to communicate, the hearing world can be an unwelcoming place.
Deaf people frequently express feelings of isolation and loneliness because so few hearing people speak their language. Which is why non-profit La Parole Aux Sourds – whose mission is to build a stronger bridge between the deaf and hearing communities – partnered with BETC to create Unsilenced, the world’s first original song sung entirely through sign language and dance. On first viewing, Unsilenced appears to be a music video for an instrumental song. It’s only when viewers arrive at the end of the film that they discover the dancer they’ve been watching is actually deaf and that he’s been sign-singing the “lyrics” the whole time. Viewers are then invited to visit Unsilenced.fr, where an interactive digital experience reveals the lyrics hidden in his movements.

By “unsilencing” the film, users discover the message hidden in the dancer’s signs.