Blindsight (2006 film)
Encyclopedia
Blindsight is a 2006 documentary film
directed by Lucy Walker
and produced by Sybil Robson Orr for Robson Entertainment. It premiered at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival
(TIFF) in the category Real to Reel.
Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Himalayas, Blindsight follows six Tibetan teenagers on their journey to climb the 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri mountain in the shadow of Mount Everest
. A dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind. The children are at times feared by their parents, scorned by villages and deemed sinners by devout followers of Buddhism
, and believed to be cursed. Helped by Sabriye Tenberken
— a blind German social worker who established the first school for the blind in Lhasa
— the students invite the famous blind mountain climber
Erik Weihenmayer
to visit their school after learning about his climb to the summit of Everest. Erik arrives in Lhasa and helps the students and their educators climb higher than they have ever been before.
reported that 100% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 21 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 80 out of 100, based on 5 reviews.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Lucy Walker
Lucy Walker
Lucy Walker is a film director, mostly of theatrical feature documentaries. On January 25th, 2010 she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Waste Land, which she directed.-Film career:...
and produced by Sybil Robson Orr for Robson Entertainment. It premiered at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival
2006 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2006 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 7 to September 16, 2006. Opening the festival was Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, a film that "explores the history of the Inuit people through the eyes of a father and daughter."In a press release...
(TIFF) in the category Real to Reel.
Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Himalayas, Blindsight follows six Tibetan teenagers on their journey to climb the 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri mountain in the shadow of Mount Everest
Mount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
. A dangerous journey soon becomes a seemingly impossible challenge made all the more remarkable by the fact that the teenagers are blind. The children are at times feared by their parents, scorned by villages and deemed sinners by devout followers of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, and believed to be cursed. Helped by Sabriye Tenberken
Sabriye Tenberken
Sabriye Tenberken is a German socialworker and co-founder of the organisation Braille Without Borders.- Biography :Sabriye was born near Bonn, Germany, and she became gradually visually impaired and completely blind by the age of thirteen due to retinal disease. She studied Central Asian Studies...
— a blind German social worker who established the first school for the blind in Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
— the students invite the famous blind mountain climber
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
Erik Weihenmayer
Erik Weihenmayer
Erik Weihenmayer is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002. His story was covered in a Time article in June 2001 titled Blind to Failure...
to visit their school after learning about his climb to the summit of Everest. Erik arrives in Lhasa and helps the students and their educators climb higher than they have ever been before.
Critical reception
The film received near universally positive reviews from critics. As of April 2, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 100% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 21 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 80 out of 100, based on 5 reviews.
Awards and nominations
- WINNER - Audience Award for Best film Berlin Film Festival Panorama 2007
- WINNER – Audience Award for best documentary film American Film InstituteAmerican Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
- AFI - (see American Film Institute Awards 2006American Film Institute Awards 2006The AFI Awards 2006 honored the best 10 Movies and 10 Television Programs of the year.-Films:*Babel *Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan*The Devil Wears Prada...
) Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants... - WINNER - Audience Award for Best Documentary Palm Springs Film Festival
- NOMINEE – Best Documentary British Independent Film AwardsBritish Independent Film AwardsThe Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...
2006
External links
- Official site
- Blindsight on MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....