It was a Friday night on the red carpet at Pepperdine’s first annual ReelStories Filmfest. The crowd hushed in anticipation as the winners were announced on stage: “Best cinematography— Austin Chapman.” As the cameras flashed Chapman’s parents sister and friends gleamed with pride and excitement as they cheered him on.
Strolling down the red carpet as if it came naturally to him Chapman headed toward the stage to accept his award for his short film “At the Altar.” He shook hands with the two other award winners and some of the judges. Smiling he posed for photos that would later run in the Malibu Times.
What an onlooker might not have realized is that Chapman a junior has to deal with many day-to-day challenges. Let’s rewind to that Friday morning. Chapman who was born deaf woke up to his bed shaking powerfully as the alarm under his mattress vibrated. In his classes his sign language interpreter sat in front of the classroom to sign what the professor was saying.
Despite his daily challenges Chapman has not let the fact that he is deaf hold him back at all. 2008 Pepperdine alumna Brianna Jackson has been working as Chapman’s sign language interpreter for almost three years. She described him as “fun-loving adventerous and daring.”
“Nothing is going to hold him back— that’s for sure she said.
Thanks to nearly 17 years of speech therapy, Chapman is able to communicate verbally in addition to using sign language. His lip-reading skills are excellent.
Chapman decided to study abroad in Florence during the summer of 2008, and admitted that at first he was nervous about living in a country that did not speak English.
I knew zero Italian because it took me 17 years to learn how to speak English; I couldn’t possibly learn another anguage in time Chapman wrote in an e-mail. However my life-long experience communicating with people who couldn’t understand paid off. In many cases I was the one translating for my friends because body language is universal.”
Chapman a creative writing major said his passion for storytelling began at an early age. He recalls making his first film with his mom’s camcorder when he was around 8 or 9 years old— there were monsters involved. At the age of 12 he made a detective mystery film. Although he loved making films he always considered it more of a hobby than a potential career choice.
“I honestly never thought I could ever become a director he wrote. I guessed I could maybe be a writer if I was lucky because my handicap doesn’t affect what’s on paper but as a director I didn’t think I could communicate with the whole crew and utilize the right vision.”
Chapman said his professors especially Tom Shadyac who directed “Bruce Almighty” and “Patch Adams and Randall Wallace, who wrote Braveheart” and “The Man in the Iron Mask inspired him to live up to his full potential.
Those guys told me to basically screw my handicap and just do what I love Chapman wrote.
Chapman is taking their advice. His two short films, The Librarian” and “At the Altar” debuted at ReelStories Film Fest. In “The Librarian a deaf boy runs through the library and then is tripped by the librarian after he does not respond to her calling out to him. It is based on a true story that happened to his deaf friend. Austin said its purpose is to serve as a reminder that one should not be so quick to judge others.
At the Altar” is darker and more complex.
“I set out to create a short beautiful haunting story that would be interpreted in different ways Chapman wrote. It can be seen as a story of a son paying [for] his father’s crimes. It’s also a reminder that some of the most atrocious acts of humanity were committed in the name of God.
“I don’t think any interpretation is wrong he wrote. However not trying to find a meaning or interpretation of any film is lazy and invites ignorance.”
Chapman hopes to become a filmmaker so he can use his influence to change the industry especially by making subtitles available at all movie theaters that could be turned on at the request of a deaf person.
“I’m hooked on films and the worst thing is waiting long months to see an independent film all the critics raved about he wrote. Right now we have many digital projection theaters capable of turning subtitles on but studios have not implemented the feature yet.”
Chapman recently started writing the screenplay for his first feature film. All he would say is that it is about an aging deaf man trying to make sense of his world.
“Storytelling has more power than people realize Chapman wrote. I want to create films that change the world films that push people to question their worldview that push people to action to combat all sorts of evils we have in our world or simply films that remind us of the beauty of the world we live in.”