BlindSight

This eye-opening documentary explores a subject many people, including myself, would know little about before seeing it: the amazing potential for productivity percolating within blind visual artists. Sculpture, yes, I've long been aware of the possibilities, but photography? The revelation astonished me. 

BlindSight celebrates the photographic imagination of blind and visually impaired members of the Seeing with Photography Collective. All of them were sighted at one time. Many came to photography after their loss of sight, and photography has given them a new voice, a way to express what they feel and what they see inside their minds. 

The results are transformative for both the members and the viewer—tangible proof of the way creativity can enrich life and empower. Filmmaker Bob Sacha of New York, New York brings this elevating, 16-minute treasure to New Hope. You can watch the trailer here: BlindSight Trailer

Inside Peace

Mass incarceration has become a hot topic of debate in the United States, but if not discussed in a delicate way, the arguments on both sides can easily obfuscate the issue of how to prevent imprisonment in the first place. Or in the case of ex-offenders, how they can break the cycle of crime, never to set foot in a courtroom again.

Four years in the making, Inside Peace is a feature documentary that focuses on three hardened men who were incarcerated at Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio, Texas. There they embarked on a journey of self-discovery and change by enrolling in the Peace Class, one of the few self-improvement programs in the country that offers a new age path to finding inner strength, dignity and self-worth. Brought to the prison by Roberto and Chantal Piriz in 2007, this innovative effort to prevent recidivism is based on the work of Indian-American inspirational speaker Prem Rawat. 

None of these three inmates ever realized he had the capacity to make positive choices in life until he entered the program. With a supporting cast of fellow inmates, prison officials, noted experts and family members, the film follows the trio's arduous road as they apply wisdom acquired in the Peace Class to their post-release world. Certainly, the men's lives on the outside are filled with conflict, rejection and hostility, yet faced with such obstacles, they must avoid their old ways by living with inner peace.

You can learn more about this cutting-edge documentary and the California-based filmmaker, Cynthia Fitzpatrick, who made it happen, by reading NHFF columnist Val Patterson's feature article, "Mind Over Matter," in the Festival's 2015 Program Guide. You can also watch the trailer here: Inside Peace Trailer

The Fever

South Korea's population of runaways exceeds 20,000.

In this raw, unflinching examination of a true social crisis, student filmmaker Eunhye Hong Kim offers remarkable depth of characterization, yet little hope that teenagers can manage their own affairs alone. The youths depicted in this film try to form a caring, functional family unit, but their combination of grinding poverty, homelessness and inexperience leads them down the painfully familiar path of robbery, scamming, drugs and prostitution.

They only have each other, and that is a big problem. You can watch the trailer here (parental warning for language): The Fever Preview

Homophonia

In this comic take on the culture wars over gay marriage rights, a distressed man who's late for his marriage hearing tries to get directions from his smart phone only to discover that it, too, is opposed to gay marriage. As many people can relate, the phone could use a refresher on listening skills, too.

Produced and written by Massachusetts-based filmmaker Mary Niederkorn and directed by Jim Jermanok, this 3-minute short amusingly demonstrates that computer technology doesn't guarantee political neutrality. It all depends on who programs it.

You can watch the trailer here: Homophonia Trailer

Red Dot on the Ocean

This fascinating documentary chronicles the ocean voyage of a formerly troubled youth as he reinvents himself on decidedly his own terms, despite the sober warnings of far more experienced boating experts.

Through the making of Red Dot on the Ocean, Matt Rutherford became the first person ever to sail alone, without stopping, around both Americas. His rickety, leaky sailboat spent the entire trip flooding, yet he managed to stay awake enough to prevent its demise. As a result of his herculean efforts, he also succeeded in bailing out more than his ride, raising $120,000 for disabled sailors. After 309 days at sea, he returned to a hero's welcome and a mere $30.00 in the bank. He then founded a non-profit that specializes in ocean research.

Matt's story demonstrates the power of the human spirit to overcome both nature's wrath and the demons within. You can watch the trailer here (parental warning for language): Red Dot on the Ocean Preview

In the Blind

This touching entry from the hamlet of Stone Ridge, New York examines two estranged brothers as they come to terms with their father's suicide. The dialogue is pensive and intimate, and the setting, the family's duck blind, fosters a sense of revealing what has long remained hidden. In a place renowned for silence, conversation is a metaphor for thoughts long suppressed.

Produced by Ingrid Price and directed by Davis Hall, In the Blind superbly adapts an Adam LeFevre play to film. In doing so, it revealingly laments the tendency of menfolk to leave the deepest things unsaid until it's too late.

You can watch the trailer here: In the Blind Trailer

Normalcy

Creepy, thought-provoking, and futuristic enough to give you the chills, Normalcy tells the story of a woman who undergoes a medical procedure in order to remove her creative ambitions. The struggles of an artist's life are more than she can bear, and the clinicians are certain the treatment is right for her, so it's really a no-brainer. All she has to do is shut down a deep corner of her mind, and all will be well. The drug has even become fashionable, so what does she have to lose?

Written and directed by Matthew Merenda, this compelling short from Southern California delivers its message with enough discomfort to demonstrate why anodynes mask pain rather than end it.

You can watch the trailer here: