“We can show other people that there is more to being blind or visually impaired than you think. We can do more that you think we can do.” – Melody, age 15, blind photographer
Nearly ten years after a photography class the the North Carolina School for the Blind, all of Tony Deifell’s students have graduated. In 2005, filmmaker Bryan Donnell joined Tony to document a road trip from Asheville to eastern NC to track down his former students.
Some students had given up photography, many had continued with it, but all of them tell both humorous and sobering stories of what it is like being blind, living in rural America, and seeing beyond sight.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Bryan Donnell – BIO – www.bryandonnell.com
Following up on the successful book: SEEING BEYOND SIGHT published by Chronicle Books with a foreword by Robert Coles.
“uniquely powerful ~ Utne Magazine
“savvy, passionate, witty, and yes, beautiful” ~ FastCompany.com
“This book will make you lookand look againat how you perceive and what you assume.” ~ Shambhala Sun
NYTimes , LA Times COLORS magazine & more http://www.seeingbeyondsight.org/book/press.html
Team on This Campaign:
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Tony DeifellTony has spent over a decade creating youth-generated media projects, including From the Hip, Youth Voice Radio, and ISM, which was recognized by the White House as a national model of diversity education, using video diaries to address race issues. Tony was an artist-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts, taught documentary studies at Duke University, was a national leadership fellow with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
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Bryan DonnellBryan was Director of Photography for "The Elders," started by Nelson Mandela. Other work: A&E's top-rated "Intervention," A&E's "Driving Force" & "Made in L.A.," funded by Sundance and ITVS. Films Bryan has shot have won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, a student Oscar and 2 student Emmies. TV clients have included History Channel, Discovery, Travel, Fine Living and the Learning Channel, ABC Family, A&E, Bravo, Fox, Sky, PBS, ESPN2 among others. He earned his MFA in film production at USC.