Blind Loves

Documentary film making in present-day Slovakia is represented by a new generation of talented film makers; fiction will probably need more time for new talents to develop. The charming, warm and honest small film Blind Loves was a pleasant surprise for the country itself as well as for international audiences at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The film drew enthusiastic praise from various international film critics as well as various awards.
What was it exactly that addressed and moved viewers all over the world? When director Juraj Lehotsky, who previously had made a few short documentaries, started working on his feature-length début three years ago, it became a challenge for him to try to experience the world from the point of view and through the emotions of blind people. He worked on the script together with the excellent script writer Marek Lescák (e.g. The Garden by Martin Sulík), with life itself very often influencing the writing.
The film consists of several stories about blind people; the connecting thread is their search for and experience of love. The blind non-actors are excellent natural performers and the poetics of the film are enriched with an animation sequence that recalls the books of Jules Verne. The result is an amusing and empathetic pearl of a film. (LC)