Notes on blindness film

The film does more than simply tell an interesting true story which the filmmakers stumbled upon. When directors pete middleton and james spinney do clever things like keeping bits of information and action offscreen while we hear hulls frustration over having to ask for descriptions of whats happening, the film achieves its goal. Honourable exceptions include british filmmaker gary tarns 2005. An official selection of the 2014 sundance film festival. Nov 16, 2016 notes on blindness, a documentary based on the theologian john m. But the central conceit of notes on blindness is to emulate hulls descent into blindness using visuals. Following on from the emmy awardwinning short film of the same name, notes on blindness is an ambitious. Notes on blindness 2016 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. Mesmerizing the best virtual reality experience at tribeca film festivalvice notes on blindness is one of the first great virtual reality experiencesalphr. Hulls memoir, subtly evokes sightlessness with figures in silhouette.

The blindness in the platonic allegory serves as a barrier to understanding just as the blindness in the novel is itself something incomprehensible the doctors are baffled as to its cause, how it spreads and what can stop it. The creators of this exceptional film successfully recreated john hulls notes on his initial battle and later acceptance of his blindness. Nov 18, 2016 john hull, whose writings were praised by oliver sacks, shares what it feels like to lose his sight in peter middleton and james spinneys doc, notes on blindness. Into darkness is an immersive virtual reality vr project. This is the third documentary that middleton and spinney have made about hull following the shorts notes on blindness. Drawing on johns original recordings, notes on blindness premiered at the 2016 sundance film festival and won the special jury prize at the san francisco international film festival. Jan 16, 2014 an official selection of the 2014 sundance film festival.

Notes on blindness traces one mans difficult journey and emerges with a. Blindness is a 2008 englishlanguage thriller film and an adaptation of the 1995 novel of the same name by portuguese author jose saramago about a society suffering an epidemic of blindness. This project is a 2015 tribeca film institute new media fund grantee. Following the emmy awardwinning short film of the same name, notes on. The blindness of the novel operates in this same allegorical vein, using blindness as a metaphor for ignorance. Over three years, hull recorded over 16 hours of material creating a story of loss, rebirth and transformation. After the writer and theologian john hull became completely blind in 1983, he kept an audio diary of his experience. To help him make sense of the upheaval in his life, he began documenting his experiences on audio cassette. The standard version is the original film soundtrack with no extra description or sound effects. Jul 01, 2016 directed by peter middleton, james spinney. In addition to a being packaged with a virtual reality experience at selected theaters, notes on blindness is being released in formats for blind. Notes on blindness uk film northwest film forum seattle. Over three years, he collated more than 16 hours of.

Johns original recordings form the basis of this interactive experience, which uses real time 3d, virtual reality, and binaural sound to explore the interior world of blindness. With exclusive access to these original recordings, notes on blindness encompasses dreams, memory and. To help him make sense of the upheaval in his life, he began keeping a diary on audiocassette. Following on from the emmy awardwinning short film of the same name, notes on blindness is an ambitious and groundbreaking work, both affecting and innovative. Notes on blindness takes a creative approach to the documentary form. Find the audio described version of the films trailer here password. Notes on blindness old yorker film notes old yorker. The list, allan hunter beautiful and reassuring, notes on blindness is a moving and inspiring film. Notes on blindness is a compilation of the authors audio notes, made over the course of the years following the loss of his sight.

Rainfall 20 and notes on blindness 2014, respectively four and fourteen minutes long. While the feature film is marked by its lush, expressive cinematography, the vr project is an attempt to navigate the experience of blindness. Alongside the premiere of the feature film, sundance 2016 saw the unveiling of notes on blindness. When the australianborn theologian and university lecturer john hull went blind in the early 1980s after decades of struggling with his sight, he started recording audio diaries. This track uses enhanced sound design and additional audio from characters in the film to guide the audience through the story. Adventurous and intimate and unworried by the wall dividing fiction and nonfiction, peter middletons and james spinneys debut, notes on blindness, is a wondrous film, a thing of magic and a. In the summer of 1983, just days before the birth of his first son, writer and theologian john hull went blind. In 1983, after years of deteriorating vision, the writer and theologian john hull lost the last traces of light sensation. After losing sight in 1983, john hull began keeping an audio diary, a unique testimony of loss, rebirth and renewal, excavating the interior world of blindness.

When theologian john hulls eyesight failed, faces crumbled and he felt trapped. Notes on blindness could have functioned as an essay film if hulls recordings had been left alone, but it immediately becomes a fiction film marred. Notes on blindness is the kind of documentary that aims to be formally distinct something i wish was standard for the art. In the early 1980s, after decades of steady deterioration, writer and academic john hulls sight finally went. Actors lipsynch to the voices of the family, embedding johns. A new york times critics pick, notes on blindness is a poetic account of loss, rebirth and renewal, and the discovery of a world beyond sight. One of john hulls original tape recorders, in a still from the film. After losing his sight in 1983, john hull began recording an audiodiary documenting his discovery of a world beyond sight. S ince its premiere at cannes this year, fernando meirelless film has been coldly received by many critics, on the grounds that it softpedals. In order to make sense of the upheaval in his life, he began keeping a diary. Com arte experience presents notes on blindness, a vr journey into a world beyond sight. Following the emmy awardwinning short film of the same name, notes on blindness takes a creative approach to the documentary form.

The filmmakers of notes on blindness worked with one of europes leading sound designers, joakim sundstrom, and have created a rich, immersive soundtrack calibrated specifically for blind and sighted audiences. Actors lipsynch to the voices of the family, embedding johns original audio recordings within compelling cinematography and textured sound design. In english oliver sacks, the great neurologist, wrote that john hulls memoir, on sight and insight. A journey into the world of blindness is the most extraordinary, precise, deep and beautiful account of blindness i have ever read. Notes on blindness is a moving, intimate documentary, a triumph of sound and image, and a poetic examination of love, loss, memory and marriage. The feature film received its world premiere at the sundance film festival new frontiers section, where it played alongside a companion virtual reality experience, notes on blindness. Directed by peter middleton and james spinney, notes on blindness is an ambitious and groundbreaking work both affecting and innovative and one of the most essential british documentaries of. The first of these, rainfall, won the best short documentary award at hot docs 20 and was nominated for the ica experimental film award. The multiawarded narrative vr experience is now available on oculus quest. Jul 07, 2016 this is the third documentary that middleton and spinney have made about hull following the shorts notes on blindness. To help him make sense of the ensuing upheaval in his life, he began to keep an audio diary.

Start an into film club or log in to rate this film synopsis having lost his sight in 1983, just before the birth of his son, theologian john hull began recording his experiences of blindness on a tape recorder. In 1983, after decades of steady deterioration, renowned professor and writer. Jun 16, 2016 directed by peter middleton and james spinney, notes on blindness is an ambitious and groundbreaking work both affecting and innovative and one of the most essential british documentaries of. Notes on blindness is a 2016 british documentary film directed by peter middleton and james spinney. This film is a dramatization using those recordings. Into darkness is an immersive virtual reality vr project based on john hulls sensory and psychological experience of blindness released alongside the feature film. Hull, who became totally blind after decades of steadily deteriorating vision. The interactive experience complements the story world of the feature film. Notes on blindness 2016 u 1h 26m art house films based on the audio diaries of academic and theologian john hull, this film offers an impressionistic recreation of his slow descent into blindness. Its an ambitious and groundbreaking work, both affecting and innovative and one. The list, allan hunter beautiful and reassuring, notes on. The project, backed by the british film institute and film4, comes from peter middleton and james spinney, who were baftanominated for their innovative doc notes on blindness.

He knew that if he didnt try to understand his blindness it would destroy him. Hull, marilyn hull, miranda beinartsmith, jamie bradley. Hull, who died last year, recorded his thoughts on blindness on tape, at first daily, then less frequently as time. As such, its quite a fragmentary book, but nonetheless a very insightful im not sure thats really the right word to use in this instance. The audiodescribed version uses a spoken description to relate whats happening outside of the dialogue. Following the emmy awardwinning short film of the same name, the feature version of notes on blindness takes a creative approach to the documentary form. John hull, whose writings were praised by oliver sacks, shares what it feels like to lose his sight in peter middleton and james spinneys doc, notes on blindness. All of his struggles, ups and downs, even some surprisingly blissful moments he went through shown in a beautifully artistic way. Following the emmy awardwinning short film of the same name, notes on blindness takes a creative approach to the.

Notes on blindness 2016 tvpg 1h 26m dramas based on the audio diaries of academic and theologian john hull, this film offers an impressionistic recreation of his slow descent into blindness. In order to make sense of the upheaval in his life, he began keeping a diary on audiocassette. The directors are clearly wedded to the title and its apt enough for this ninetyminute feature. Nominated for three baftas, notes on blindness presents a moving account of one mans discovery of the world beyond sight. Notes on blindness is available with three soundtrack options. The tone of the narration is so wrenchingly honest that the film never lapses. It was the first time the recording had been played for almost 25 years.

The pair were given access to a personal archive of the silentmovie star that includes previously unknown material and also have newly unearthed audio recordings. In 1983, after decades of steady deterioration, writer and theologian john hull became totally blind. Notes on blindness avoids the sentimental pitfalls of a documentary this personal. It has been supported by creative england, british film institute, impact partners, arte france, swedish film institute, bbc storyville, cinereach, britdoc, new york times and. This was followed in 2014 by the emmy awardwinning short, also entitled notes on blindness, which screened at sundance film festival and won best documentary at encounters short film and animation festival. Nov 16, 2016 but the central conceit of notes on blindness is to emulate hulls descent into blindness using visuals. Yet few films have portrayed the absence of vision with any degree of insight. It has been supported by creative england, british film institute, impact partners, arte france, swedish film institute, bbc storyville, cinereach, britdoc, new york times and procirepangoa. Excerpts from those tapes, interspersed with more recent interviews with john and his wife, marilyn, make up most of the soundtrack of notes on blindness but it would be wrong to call this a documentary. The film was written by don mckellar and directed by fernando meirelles, with julianne moore and mark ruffalo as the main characters. Nov 14, 2016 notes on blindness could have functioned as an essay film if hulls recordings had been left alone, but it immediately becomes a fiction film marred by sumptuous imagery and persistently sappy music. Jun 30, 2016 simone kirby in notes on blindness but his determination grows, over the course of the film, to grasp the specifics of his disability as an opportunity, not just a setback. Notes on blindness, a documentary based on the theologian john m.