The documentary Deaf Santa Claus, directed by Ben Shelton and Anthony Mowl, premiered at the 2024 Austin Film Festival and began a national theatrical tour in late 2025. It’s the project most responsible for the wave of mainstream attention that produced the foundation.
Here’s a short look at how it got made.
The starting question
The filmmakers didn’t start with a Santa documentary in mind. They started with a question: what happens when a Deaf person enters a professional space that wasn’t built for them?
Charles Graves was their entry point. He was pursuing professional Santa work in a hearing-default industry, attending a Santa school that hadn’t trained many Deaf students before, navigating accessibility issues that the industry had simply never had to think about. The story that the filmmakers came in to tell was about that navigation — one Deaf man, one industry, and the friction between them.
What they found, over the course of filming, was something larger.
The shoot
The documentary was shot over multiple months, following Charles through Santa school, through preparation for the holiday season, through actual appearances with Deaf and hearing children, and through the conversations he and Kari had about the work’s impact on their family.
The production team included Deaf and hearing crew members. ASL interpreters were present throughout filming. Subtitles, captioning, and ASL accessibility were built into the post-production workflow from the start — not added later as accommodations.
The film is presented theatrically with open captions, meaning the captions are baked into the picture rather than being optional subtitles a viewer has to enable. This was a deliberate choice. The intent was that Deaf and hearing audiences experience the film exactly the same way, with the same access, in the same room, at the same time.
What the film captures
Without spoiling the documentary for viewers who haven’t seen it: the film follows Charles through the practical work of becoming a professional Deaf Santa Claus and the personal cost of the labor. There’s humor — Charles is funny, his family is funny, the Santa school students are unexpectedly funny. There’s tenderness — the moments with Deaf children, the conversations between Charles and Kari, the quiet shots of preparation. And there’s real friction — the moments where the industry’s assumptions don’t fit, where access fails, where Charles has to push.
The film is structured not as advocacy but as portrait. The advocacy emerges from the portrait, which is more effective and more honest than the reverse would have been.
Where it’s screened
The documentary premiered at the 2024 Austin Film Festival to strong critical and audience response. It went on to a theatrical premiere at Cinema Salem in September 2025, followed by a national tour that brought screenings to nearly 20 cities in December 2025.
Screenings have typically included a post-film Q&A with the filmmakers, Charles and Kari Graves, and local Deaf community partners — turning each screening into a community event rather than a passive viewing experience. The conversations after the film have often run longer than the film itself.
How to watch it
The film is available for theatrical screenings (foundation will book community screenings on request — contact through the site), for educational and institutional licensing, and for individual rental through film.deafsantaclaus.org.
Continuing education units (CEUs) are available for ASL interpreters and educators who watch the film through the foundation’s Zeffy partnership; details at the Earn CEUs page.
What’s next for the film
The 2025 national tour was the documentary’s first wide release. The foundation is working to expand future seasons to more cities, more languages, and more institutional distribution — including library systems, schools, and Deaf advocacy organizations.
The film is the most efficient tool the foundation has for changing minds at scale. Every screening reaches dozens or hundreds of people who hadn’t thought about Deaf children at Christmas before walking into the theater — and who leave with a different understanding of what holiday access could look like.
If you’re interested in bringing a screening to your community, the foundation can help with the logistics, the access setup, and the conversation that follows. Reach out through the site.
