Pinny Grylls

(She/Her)

Pinny’s breakthrough project is the feature-length documentary Grand Theft Hamlet.

A wonderful sense of play is at the heart of Pinny Grylls’ breakthrough project, the multi-award winning Grand Theft Hamlet (2024). The documentary, co-directed with partner Sam Crane, blurs the lines between film, games, and theatre as a disparate group of ‘players’ attempt to put on a performance of Hamlet within the chaotic open world of Grand Theft Auto. A feat in itself, but what makes it such a beautiful moment for Pinny is that this film marks her return as director of a feature-length production since she lost her hearing in 2016. At the time, she was devastated, believing her career making documentaries was over.

As well as having to overcome the technical difficulties of no signing or lip-reading in the game, Pinny also had the seemingly impossible task of balancing Hamlet’s contemplative core with GTA’s madcap nature, adding in a dash of honed cinematic flair for good measure. The positivity around the film has helped renew her confidence, and she is currently writing a fiction film, called Signs of Life, with funding from The Uncertain Kingdom scheme, and is also developing another documentary filmed inside a computer game.

In their own words…

“I really want to tell my story, of losing my hearing and how I wasn’t offered sign language, I was only offered medical fixes. Sign language was the thing that helped me the most, because it wasn’t just a language, it was a community. It gave me a sense of connection again… I want the world to see sign language and deaf people… I want to platform them and showcase the incredible talent within the deaf community. There’s so much we can learn from deaf culture and their stories.”