Ever wanted to ask a blind person with a cane or dog just how they were able to navigate a busy city? Well, you can get the answer to that question and many more in GOING BLIND, a unique film which takes us into the secret world of the blind through personal stories. The film, directed by award-winning director Joseph Lovett will start its theatrical run October 8, at NY’s Quad Cinema and run through World Sight Day, October 14, 2010.
Lovett conceived the film when he realized he was losing his sight to recurrent glaucoma. The situation seemed quite dire and he turned to others dealing with the same issues and realized there was a compelling universal story here.
“A huge percentage of visually impaired people sit alone in their rooms afraid to venture out,” commented Lovett. “This is a true crime and much of this happens simply because their doctors did not take the next step and suggest other avenues of treatment such as low vision therapy. It is not the doctor’s failure if a patient loses vision…. not referring patients to Low Vision Therapy is the real failure,” he concluded.
Patiently shooting and editing for five years, Lovett follows the compelling progress of people such as Steve Baskis, an Iraq war veteran who lost his sight to a road-side bomb attack and Jessica Jones, an art teacher with Diabetic Retinopathy. The filmmaker weaves their stories with his own, and learns how low vision therapy and new technologies can create a roadmap of hope while battling blindness.
Although GOING BLIND is a story about coping with vision loss, it is really a story about coping with any adversity life deals you. As Jessica Jones says in the film “You learn how to use what you have.”