Dead Silence

Dead Silence is a 1997 Canadian-American crime thriller television film directed by Daniel Petrie Jr. and written by Donald E. Stewart, based on the 1995 novel A Maiden's Grave by Jeffery Deaver. The film stars James Garner, Kim Coates, Marlee Matlin, and Lolita Davidovich. Premise A veteran FBI agent negotiates the release of a bus load of hearing impaired school children taken hostage by three desperate escaped convicts. Release Dead Silence premiered on HBO during January 1997. That year the film was also released on VHS in Australia, the UK and several other countries. A few months after its HBO premiere, the film was screened at the 1997 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, despite being a made for TV production. It also received a theatrical release in Japan.