The blind leading the blind: filming during a pandemic with a sightless subject

Abstract

This paper is constructed to serve as a detailed analysis of the storytelling and logistical process for making the film Sonora in Colombia, South America. Sonora is an experimental short documentary with Juan Pablo Culasso as the main subject. Blind since birth and deeply reliant on his heightened sense of hearing and touch to understand the world around him, Culasso navigates a world that is truly more complex than most of us can imagine. As a result, he has developed a mind that inherently has a unique connection to nature. Sonora is ultimately a haptic film visually and sonically that combines Culasso's non-scripted voiceover with in-the-field examples of how he experiences nature. The goal is to instill a better awareness within the individual viewers of the potential use of their own senses.