A Silent Agreement(Film, 2017)

A Silent Agreement is a 2017 Australian romantic drama film written and directed by Davo Hardy. It was the first theatrically released, cinematic film to feature Auslan (Australian Sign Language) as both a main language of the film's dialogue, as well as a key plot element in the story. The plot concerns Reuben (played by Davo Hardy), who overcomes a speech impediment with the use of Auslan, with help from his profoundly deaf boyfriend (played by Joshua Sealy). Having built up Reuben's confidence enough to encourage his higher ambitions, Derek contacts an Australian screen legend, Gareth (played by Paul Mercurio) to help mentor Reuben in his burgeoning career. But shortly after seeing the potential in Reuben's autobiographical screenplay, Gareth takes over the project for his own gain and sanitizes the story to suit a wider audience, thereby cutting Reuben out of the equation.Forced to draw upon the courage and self-actualization that he has gathered through the experience, Reuben stands up to his bully and wins the support of those who had once opposed him, for the greater moral good. Davo Hardy has stated in interviews that the film was a response to his film mentors telling him he could not be a director because of his real-life stutter. ()