CCAM Film Advisor Office Hours: Julia Silvestri
Join CCAM for a conversation with Julia Silvestri, Ph.D., Ed.S., exploring American Sign Language, Deaf culture, film, theatre, performance, and the role of media and the arts in cultural preservation, language learning, and community building. The conversation will be moderated by Susan Youssef, CCAM Film Advisor.
Drawing upon her work as an educator, scholar, producer, performer, and archivist, Silvestri will discuss the relationship between ASL and visual media—from Deaf performance, storytelling, and cinematic poetry to archival filmmaking, instructional media, digitization, and multimedia production. The conversation will consider how film and performance can preserve and reinterpret cultural histories, create opportunities for artistic expression, support language learning, and build connections across Deaf and signing communities.
About Julia Silviestri
Julia Silvestri, Ph.D., Ed.S., is a Senior Lector I in American Sign Language and Director of the ASL Program at Yale. Her work spans theatre, film, archival filmmaking, instructional video, digitization, course and resource development, and multimedia community production. At Yale, she has worked to expand the range and depth of ASL media, arts, and experiential learning opportunities, including through archival media projects and the development of coursework in ASL theatre and production arts.
Silvestri is also active in Deaf and signing arts communities as a performer and organizer and serves as Operations Director and a board member of ASL Slam. ASL Slam has launched the Slam Row Film Festival to engage international communities in spaces centered on Deaf literary traditions, Visual Vernacular, and cinematic poetry. Her creative work includes acting, directing, producing, and organizing performance and multimedia projects in community and educational spaces.
Silvestri has worked as a K–12 educator and administrator in schools for the Deaf and public-school programs in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. She earned her Ph.D. in Physical Disabilities from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she also taught ASL and Deaf Studies; an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership from George Washington University; and an M.Ed. in Deaf Education from Smith College. Her scholarly and creative interests include Deaf Music, Deaf Studies, ASL phonology, bilingualism and literacy, Universal Design for Learning, and the intersections of archives, media, performance, and pedagogy.
Across these areas, Silvestri approaches media and the arts as tools for cultural preservation, language learning, creative expression, and community building, connecting Deaf cultural and literary traditions with contemporary practices in film, performance, education, and multimedia production.