Blind Faith

A Story of Blindness, Trust, and Family
by
Year Released
2017
Film Length(s)
53 mins
Closed captioning available Audio description available
Remote video URL

Introduction

Blind Faith follows the stirring personal journey, both intimate and universal, of a man coming to terms with his disability and struggling with the roles of father, husband, and successful entrepreneur, breaking through the myths of blindness and broadening our understanding of the complex hidden realities facing the blind community.

Featured review

Offering insight on the social and psychological aspects of blindness, this is recommended for collections focusing on family issues and disabilities.
- James Scholtz
Booklist

Synopsis

Blind Faith is an hour-long documentary that follows David, a successful businessman who has in many ways defied his blindness, as he struggles to truly come to terms with his disability. It begins with his marriage to Isabel, which coincides with the loss of his last dim experiences of sight. Their partnership makes many of his needs to adapt to total blindness invisible to him. She is his passport back into the world of the sighted. Feeling confident and on track, David decides he wants to experience fatherhood and the couple adopt their daughter, Anna. Anna's adoption and their 14-year trajectory together as a family force David to confront his blindness in new and meaningful ways.

The bond between Anna and David is the highlight throughout--how it changes, how they change, what it is like to be a parent who is blind, what is it like to have a blind father. Isabel's voice adds a dimension to David's struggle as we come to better understand how independence and dependence play off each other in a marriage where one person has a disability. The documentary is about being different; it's about acceptance of that difference and all the pain and freedom that comes with it; and it's about trust that grows between a blind father and his daughter, between a blind man and his guide dog, and finally trust in oneself. Interviews with Anna and David as well as footage taken over this period show how they have navigated a sometimes distant, sometimes close bond that is ever transforming. In the end, David comes to a realization that he cannot escape the life-changing impact of his disability or hope that he will be exempt in some way from the ordinary trials of being human. Instead, his limitations provide him with an unexpected mandate to develop community and learn trust. David's journey reaches blind and visually impaired audiences with a recognizable portrayal of their own complicated reality. It takes a sighted audience into the unknown world of the blind and the trials and choices that accompany blindness--unfamiliar in many ways, yet poignantly visible to all of us.

Reviews

I was especially moved by all the emotional themes intertwined in Blind Faith: confidence vs. lack of confidence...independence vs. dependence vs. interdependence…bravery vs. bravado vs. fear. The film is honest, sweet, sad and hopeful—all at the same time.
- Nancy D. Miller
Executive Director, VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in New York City

Awards and Screenings

NYC Independent Film Festival, Premiere, 2016

Director Commentary

The gift of making a film over a long period of time is a deepening of perspective---you come to understand people and events in a far more profound way. Blind Faith started as an observation of my daughter, Anna, and her father, David, and then unfolded, over a decade of production, into a complex examination of disability, marriage, and child rearing. Making this film has given me a keener awareness of the world of the blind, a greater appreciation for the nuanced and conditioned way children adapt to people and circumstances, and a richer look at marriage as a construct and communion.

Life has been filled with unsuspected twists and turns for David, Anna, and me, and I am amazed at what a helpful, healing process making this personal film has been. Deciding whether to stay strictly as observer or being observer and participant was a hard choice and striking that intimate balance of voice was perhaps the most difficult challenge for me as filmmaker, wife, and mother. Although our journey is particular, it is in many ways resonant and universal.

Features and Languages

Film Features

  • Audio Description
  • Closed Captioning
  • Resources for Educators

Promotional Material

Promotional Stills

Opens in new window