Being an actor without a voice

Octavian Iacob's feature film Love Without Words to open in Romanian cinemas. Its cast includes non-professional actors with hearing impairments.

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 23.09.2025, 14:00

A year ago they released a very successful short film: "Love Without Words". This month the feature film bearing the same title is opening in cinemas, with a cast that brings together professional actors and non-professionals with hearing impairments.

Octavian Iacob, the film’s director, told us how the film was born:

“After the success of the short film, the nomination at Cannes and the awards it won internationally, we decided together with the Association of the Deaf to turn it into a feature film, so that it could reach more people and maybe even enjoy public success. The idea was to make something different for Romanian cinema, a love story, a film in which we don’t use graphic language, a film in which we focus on sensibility, perhaps even the multiculturalism that we should show and, above all, a film that makes us aware that there are many deaf people among us and that they need our support and especially understanding. It’s a love story, but also a thriller and I hope you’ll find it entertaining.”

Constantin Cotimanis plays one of the leading roles:

“It is, for sure, a very special film, a film that had to happen, that explores the meeting of what I would dare say two cultures, between someone who is without certain abilities that are taken for granted by others and someone who possesses them. I play, as usual, a negative role, I like to expose villany and show it to the whole world, with its captivating side, sometimes humorous, sometimes harsh, the hidden face that it would not want to show the world. Now we are talking about love. And what could be more delightful than bringing two worlds closer together, each wonderful in its own way. I am very glad that I made this film! It’s a sensitive film, a necessary film, a joy!”

What was it like to work with actors with hearing impairment? And what does this film teach us? Constantin Cotimanis:

“I had to learn some signs in order to communicate, because in the film I am a father with two boys, one of whom is hard of hearing. So I had to learn sign language, to raise my child. That was what made the film special. We also had extras from among the community of people with hearing impairments.”

Octavian Iacob, the director of the film, added:

“It should teach us a lesson. We should learn that people who can't hear and who communicate through signs or who make these sounds we don’t understand are not mute. They don’t like being told they're mute, on the contrary, they consider themselves superheroes, they consider themselves people who have an ability, and that ability is to read lips. They are very perceptive and understand a lot of things, and we highlighted these things in the film. How do we cope, how do we respond to a message, to a phone call, in a situation where we can't hear the front door, where we can't hear the sounds next to us? All kind of accidents can happen, all kinds of problems."

Monica Davidescu plays Mrs Lovin, the right hand of the head of a big corporation. She also spoke at length about working with actors with hearing impairments:

“It was a challenge for me too. They were very nice, the interpreter, Bogdan Aricescu, helped us learn sign language for the small scenes we had to do together. We rehearsed a lot. The director Octavian Iacob got involved and managed to make us look that we master the sign language. There were also challenges, in the sense that, I expected that in the scene with everyone, there would be lots of music and noise. There were many people with hearing impairments who were in the film as extras. Bogdan explained to them in sign language what they had to do and it was very funny that at one point he told them to applaud by clasping their hands, and not through sign language, by shaking their palms.”

I asked Monica Davidescu if she thinks actors with hearing impairments could be professional actors:
“I think so, because I was watching the two colleagues who had the main roles: they were so calm, so sure of themselves, even though they were so nervous. Especially Jeni, who has never acted before, she had never imagined she ever would and who was extraordinary in the role. I was happy to see some people happy to do something they never thought they could do, but which they wanted to!”
Octavian Iacob added: 
"The actress playing the lead role has been on maternity leave for two years, and she just had her second child. She works in a big company in the consulting department. Eduard Iacobache, one of the boys, is a student, others work supermarkets. So they come from different backgrounds. They don't need a voice to make themselves noticed, they just need a face."