In “Deaf President Now!” directors Nyle Dimarco and Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim recount eight tumultuous days in 1988 at Washington, DC’s Gallaudet University – the only Deaf university in the U.S. At the time students were protesting after the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over several very qualified Deaf candidates. In the University’s 124-year history, Gallaudet had never been led by a Deaf person despite growing sentiment from the community that it was time for a Deaf leader.

For the documentary, Dimarco, a Deaf actor-advocate, and Guggenheim interviewed the four Gallaudet graduates – Greg Hlibok, Jerry Covell, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, and Tim Rarus – who were responsible for organizing the week-long movement that consisted of rallies, boycotts and protests. In the film, the foursome describe events in their own words, which are signed on-screen and spoken aloud by unseen actors. Told primarily through American Sign Language, intermixed with...