A film festival, by definition, exists for the pleasure of watching. Not being able to see seems like an insurmountable barrier—for cinema as for photography. Yet this year, at the Rome Film Festival, we watched a film alongside several blind people who are the subjects of the documentary Not everything is black, shown in the sidebar section Riflessi. Young director Olmo Partenti had a simple but audacious idea: give a camera to six blind people, follow them around the world as they use their other senses to capture what draws their curiosity. The blind perceive their surroundings through sound, noise, smell, and touch. When they point a camera, they do so deliberately: they describe in words what they believe they are recording in photographs they will never see, but have imagined in their own way.
As the six protagonists wander through cities searching for compelling subjects, they also reveal who they are and how they live with their disability. Manuele, from Milan, shows a remarkable ability to understand people. Michael, from New York, crosses the chaotic streets of the American metropolis without fear, facing life with bold cheerfulness. Carmen and Chema, from Madrid, are a couple strengthened by their bond with each other. Ramy, Lebanese and injured in a hunting accident as a child, accepts his condition upheld by unshakeable faith. Bahir, a young Turkish psychologist, explains that her blindness was also her fortune—instead of marrying at fifteen like the other girls in her country, she was able to study, live alone in the city, travel, and be independent.
They are all so skilled at describing how they perceive the world that their words allow viewers to imagine their photographs without ever seeing the actual images. For those curious to discover the photographs themselves, they can be found at noteverythingisblack.com.