Le Village des sourds

The harmonious existence of Okionuk, a small polar village, is shaken by the arrival of a disturbing merchant selling terribly desirable objects in exchange for words. Purchase after purchase, the inhabitants are stripped of their language as the merchant extends his hold over them... How can we get along, think and remain free when words disappear? What are the shortcomings of consumer society and the mechanisms of totalitarianism? The story is told by Youma, a deaf teenager, the only one with her interpreter Gurven to have preserved a secret language - sign language.