Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month

Name Me Lawand
Edward Lovelace explores the power of communication and community with this rapturous portrait of a young deaf Kurdish boy.
Director: Edward Lovelace
Overview
This powerful documentary highlights the importance of community and the transformative effect of finding your voice. Convinced of the potential of their deaf son, a Kurdish family leave Iraq and finally arrive in the UK, where Lawand joins the Royal School for the Deaf Derby. Empowered with British Sign Language, he reveals himself as a witty and popular student. Meanwhile, his family navigate a new common language and have to fight to remain in the community that has embraced them.
Director Edward Lovelace (who made The Possibilities Are Endless with co-director James Hall) spent four years alongside Lawand and his family, whilst learning BSL to produce this inspiring portrait.
Related

Architecton Architecton
Documentary 2024 98 mins Director: Viktor Kossakovsky
Victor Kossakovskyβs film essay looks at the way we have constructed our built world through a series of breathtaking sequences.

LΓ -bas LΓ -bas
Documentary 2006 79 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
Akermanβs introspective apartment-bound reflection on isolation and confinement.

Hotel Monterey Hotel Monterey
Documentary 1973 63 mins Silent Director: Chantal Akerman
A hypnotic tour of a New York hotel that proves that nighttime is Akerman time.

Avec Sonia Wieder-Atherton Avec Sonia Wieder-Atherton
Documentary 2003 52 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
A celebration of Akermanβs longtime collaborator, cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, showing her artistry as she plays and discusses her life in music.

No Home But Cinema: The Spaces of Chantal Akerman No Home But Cinema: The Spaces of Chantal Akerman
Short documentary 2025 14 mins Director: Jessica McGoff
This new video essay by writer and critic Jessica McGoff, traces the restless movement in the works of Chantal Akerman, where the concept of home is always slipping just out of reach.

A Night of Knowing Nothing A Night of Knowing Nothing
Drama-documentary 2021 99 mins Director: Payal Kapadia
All We Imagine as Light director Payal Kapadiaβs bold and distinctive feature debut explores the political climate of contemporary India.

Alma's Rainbow Alma's Rainbow
Comedy 1993 89 mins Director: Ayoka Chenzira
Ayoka Chenziraβs vital coming-of-age comedy about three Black women living in Brooklyn learning to embrace life and exercise their agency.

Losing Ground Losing Ground
Drama 1982 86 mins Director: Kathleen Collins
A philosophy professor and an artist reach a crisis point in their marriage, in Kathleen Collinsβ groundbreaking masterpiece.

Welcome II the Terrordome Welcome II the Terrordome
Drama 1995 94 mins Director: Ngozi Onwurah
A ferocious dystopian nightmare, this was the first film directed by a Black British woman to receive a UK theatrical release.

Naked Acts Naked Acts
Drama 1996 88 mins Director: Bridgett M. Davis
Bridgett M. Davisβs comedy about an aspiring young Black actress who lands her first major role, but thereβs a big problem: it requires a nude scene.

The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy
Drama 1979 49 mins Director: Kathleen Collins
Kathleen Collinsβ debut feature about three brothers tasked with renovating an elderly womanβs mansion so she can host one last party before she dies.

Long Day's Journey Into Night Long Day's Journey Into Night
Drama 2018 138 mins Director: Bi Gan
Bi Gan's βdestroyed film noir' is a dazzling dive into an immersive dreamscape.