Note From The Editors
Part of the Unity March Mandate is to help publicise and support smaller grass roots initiatives and community groups in their efforts to bring about social change now!
Please take a moment to read about this fantastic project detailed below and give it a share to anyone you think may be interested in supporting this worthwhile event!
In Unity We Find Strength!
NOTES ON BLINDNESS on the 24th September 2016 in Nottingham
The Nottingham Alternative Film Network is proud to present an unforgettable piece of storytelling about one man’s experience of going blind. On the 24th of September 2016, the Nottingham Alternative Film Network will show NOTES ON BLINDNESS at the White Lion in Beeston as part of the Scalarama Film Festival. The directors will be in attendance for a Q&A.
The movie is a remarkable documentary about the academic John Hull and his experiences with blindness. The Guardian called NOTES ON BLINDNESS “miraculous… a beautiful, accessible and thoughtful work of art,” and it offers audiences an intensely moving glimpse into what life without sight would be like.
The documentary was selected by the London Film Festival, and it won the Storytelling and Innovation Award at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. After a successful UK distribution campaign, the Nottingham Alternative Film Network is now working to connect NOTES ON BLINDNESS with a local, visually-impaired community in conjunction with the excellent charity My Sight Nottinghamshire.
Also working alongside the Beestonian Film Club and Scalarama to attract a passionate, counter-mainstream audience, this movie will be introduced on the 24th of September at 4pm at the White Lion (24 Middle St, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1FX).
After the film, the directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney will be talking to viewers to find out more about their experiences, and we’ll be presenting their companion virtual reality project INTO DARKNESS.
This experience, the Q&A and a vegan, lovingly made meal will all be included in the price of their £10 tickets! The meal will also be presented in an exciting, optional blind-tasting format, where our punters will be able to eat a delicious selection of hand-made finger foods blindfolded, continuing the event’s theme of giving people a chance to experience the world from a different perspective.
What’s more, all profits will go to My Sight Nottinghamshire to help the vital, community-building work they do right across Nottinghamshire. On the night, an audio-description app and hard-of-hearing will also be available to ensure our event remains as accessible as possible.
Synopsis of NOTES ON BLINDNESS:
In 1983, after decades of steady deterioration, writer and academic John Hull became totally blind. To help him make sense of the upheaval in his life, he began keeping a diary on audiocassette. Over three years he recorded over sixteen hours of material, a unique testimony of loss, rebirth and renewal, excavating the interior world of blindness. Published in 1990 under the title ‘Touching the Rock’, the diaries were described by author and neurologist Oliver Sacks as, ‘A masterpiece… The most precise, deep and beautiful account of blindness I have ever read.’
EVENT LINK – https://www.facebook.com/events/752264541582390/
