I saw Lucy Walker's Blindsight at the International AFI Film Festival in November of 2006 where it won an Audience Award. It was also nominated for a Spirit Award last year for Best Documentary, among other accolades. The film's producer, Sybil Robson Orr, is nominated for a Cinema Eye Honor for Outstanding Achievement in Production.
I'm not sure why it took so long to get its theatrical release here, but don't miss a chance to see this documentary as a movie-going experience--it's magnificent; one of the most uplifting films I've seen in a while. The New York Times says that it features "exceptional people doing extraordinary things. BLINDSIGHT is one of those documentaries with the power to make you re-examine your entire life." That's pretty strong praise.
Six Tibetan teenagers set out to climb a 23,000 foot mountain. These teenagers are also completely blind. In Tibetan society, because of their handicap, they are shunned by their families and their villages--in other words, personally blamed for their "affliction." They attend a school founded by Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Sabriye Tenberken, who's also blind, and with her partner, Paul Kronenberg, also founded the international organization, Braille Without Borders--"the right to be blind without being disabled." Inspired by blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer's conquest of Mount Everest, the students invite him to visit their school. He talks them into embarking upon a three-week climb with him. Walker accompanies them with her camera crew. Do you see why you might want to see this on the big screen?
The film opens this Friday (tomorrow) at the IFC Center and Sabriye Tenberken will be there in person at the 8:05 show. On Saturday, director Lucy Walker also makes an appearance, same screening time.
I've been a fan of Walker's since I saw her first feature doc called The Devil's Playground (2002) about Amish teens experiencing their rumspringa (literally meaning "running around"), their "free year" of basically leaving the fold and doing things that are not allowed in their closed society--having sex, drinking, doing drugs, driving cars, living on their own, and experimenting all over the place. At the end of this time, they have to choose whether to come back into the Amish society's fold and live according to its ethos, or be banished from it. Forever. It's intense and wonderfully done.
Click here for Blindsight's screening dates and times.
Pamela, I loved this, too. I found it a richly-textured examination of what "achievement" means and the contrasts between Americans and Europeans. Read my review here: http://www.torontoscreenshots.com/2006/09/15/blindsight/
Posted by: James McNally | March 06, 2008 at 06:24 PM