Signed, Baba is a narrative feature film exploring the outward reality and the inward reality of our circumstances which can be denied or twisted by our struggling mind. The story involves the main characters (a son and a father) of a minority group which is rarely depicted in depth on screen. Other characters include a compassionate filmmaker who records older people’s memories on video, a down-to-earth activist who advocates public and private truths. You will meet them with only their nouns in the sketches of the film script.

She’s editing a movie memoir, but an email request makes her ponder: how to work with a non-verbal (deaf and mute) client for interviews since she doesn’t know sign language? The requester also suggests her to do subtitling.

A man is picked up by his sister at the airport. He stays with sister’s family and dreams of him and father talking, arguing over mother’s illness.

The dreams & imaginations are like flashbacks of this man’s – only they are not. Father works at a newspaper administrating daily chores, and writes stuff to publish, and corrects students’ compositions for father-in-law.

Father tells stories of leaving his parents and siblings and joins the mass retreat as a para-soldier.

Father speaks eloquently at social gatherings.

Father recites poems. Father is handy fixing and re-purposing stuff.

Father brings son to the cinema on a foggy night.

Father scratches son’s back on a summer night.

Something unusual (amazing to see), small-scene scope to large-scene scope visually

The man visits father. Father has COVID-19 and is allowed only to be seen from outside the ward. The man “discusses” with medical personnel, and it’s revealed later yet another dream.

He calls out father and mother in different languages as if they were the most universal powerful and beautiful words. It’s revealed later only an imagination – he is never able to say “baba” and “mama.” He whistles, cries, screams, moans in a strange state.

The man uses monocular and cellphone to watch kids calling baba or mama. He reads their lip movements. He plays the video but doesn’t hear the sound of kids.

The man comes to visit the movie memoir maker. He’s the one who inquired of a movie memoir for his parents, and he’s actually non-verbal too. He’s non-verbal due to the fact that father is non-verbal. The virus or disease passed down to him, so he is angry and unforgiving towards father. He brings a large load of letters, postcards, aerograms from father all ending with “Signed, Baba.”