Emilio Insolera

Early life and education

Emilio Insolera was born on 29 January 1979 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Italian Deaf family, the youngest son of automotive toolmaker Alfio Insolera and bank employee Maria Cristina Drovetta, and has an older brother, Humberto, who is also Deaf. Growing up, Insolera developed a keen interest in acting and filmmaking.

Following the rampant hyperinflation in 1989, Insolera's family moved back to Italy, first to Sicily later to various cities frequently, eventually setting in Rome. Prior to completing high school, Insolera was awarded the Fulbright and Roberto Wirth scholarship to attend Gallaudet University, in Washington, D.C., the only liberal arts college for the Deaf in the world. There, he earned his bachelor's degree in Film and Sign Language Linguistics. After freelancing for various indie film houses and working for MTV in New York City, he pursued and obtained a master's degree in Mass Communication with summa cum laude honors from the University of Rome La Sapienza. Although sign language is his native language, Insolera speaks and reads lips fluently. Currently, he can both speak and sign in four languages: Spanish, Italian, English and a bit of Japanese.

Career

Insolera wrote, directed and produced the long feature superhero film Sign Gene: The First Deaf Superheroes. The film, shot between Japan, the US and Italy, centers on deaf superheroes who have the ability to create superhuman powers through the use of sign language. "Creatively, it all started with Japan," Insolera tells The Japan Times. "My first impression was that I had stumbled into the future, but as a linguist, I was also instantly fascinated with Japanese and how it has a relationship with sign language. Kanji are usually concepts or ideas and then hiragana acts as a bridge for communication. It's the same with sign language: we use finger spelling (spelling out the alphabet with your hands) between our conceptual signs."

The characters are blessed with arcane powers "like those, when signing with finger guns, hands actually metamorphose into bonafide weapons, replete with spewing fire and all sorts; or where, when signing the word 'close', of being able to make doors close at will."

Influenced by films such as Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) and Black Rain (1989), as well as the animated 1988 film Akira, Insolera originally planned to make a short film but it garnered such a groundswell of interest with people offering to become involved, that Insolera, upon realizing it had the legs for a shot at the big time, had to rewrite the script into a feature-length. The casting came by way of word of mouth: Insolera was especially looking for native signers fluent in sign language.

The film had its world premiere on 8 September 2017 in Milan, was released in theatres by UCI Cinemas on 14 September 2017, had its US debut on 13 April 2018 and was released in Japan on 14 September 2018.

The film was also presented at the Italian Pavilion, Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic during the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

Sign Gene: The First Deaf Superheroes received positive reviews from critics. On Los Angeles Times, Michael Rechtshaffen describes the "fresh, unique filmmaking voice" as a "fast-paced potpourri of stock footage combined with sign-language and stroboscopic action sequences performed by a deaf cast, video effects simulating grainy, scratchy film stock and that aforementioned all-enveloping sound mix, with an end result that proves as wildly inventive as it is empowering". On Avvenire it reads the film "will mostly like to the younger generation accustomed to the rapid and psychedelic language of video games or Japanese cartoons". Writing for ASVOFF, Giorgia Cantarini says the story is intricate and "very fascinating. The sounds create an unexpected important part, sometimes overwhelming who is watching. All happens very fast and astonishes you with a vibrant energy". On Corriere della Sera, Michela Trigari calls Sign Gene a film that uses the science fiction as a medium to capture the imagination and "make visible what is invisible to the eyes". The film is making waves, and has inspired Elena Pizzuto, an Italian linguist, to declare it "the symbol of activism for the visual community" and Paul Dakin, from Hektoen International, an "unlikely cult classic".

Activism

Insolera partnered with LISMedia and the Mason Perkins Deafness Fund to develop various media resources in sign language. Together with researchers Elena Radutzky and Mauro Mottinelli, he produced the first Italian Sign Language dictionary in digital format, which is now available as an app.

In 2025, Insolera launched the Deaf Movie Database. As Harrison Richlin from IndieWire explains, the DMDb is the world's first platform dedicated to cataloging films, television series, and media content that feature deaf actors, directors as well as professional deaf crews, sign language, and stories centered to deaf culture.”

Personal life

He is in relationship with Norwegian model Carola Insolera, whom he met while in Tokyo and has two daughters.

Filmography

Advertising Campaigns

Loro Piana LVMH (2024)

Tod's (2025)

Commercials

Martini (2017)

Green Energy Storage (2017)

Accolades

Insolera is a Fulbright Scholar, having received one of the most prestigious educational exchange programs globally.

He graduated from University of Rome La Sapienza in Italy with 110 e Lode (summa cum laude), the highest academic distinction for top grades.

Insolera was named Alumni of the Month in 2019 by the US-Italy Fulbright Commission, in recognition of his contributions and impact within the Fulbright community. [1]

Insolera's film Sign Gene: The First Deaf Superheroes was presented at the Italian Pavilion, Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic, during the 71st Cannes Film Festival. [2]