Ik Zal Zien
In her first feature film, Mercedes Stalenhoef delves into the world of sprightly 17-year-old Lot, who has to learn to cope with the loss of her eyesight after a fireworks accident.
Lot is sent to a rehabilitation centre for the visually impaired. All her future plans – to travel, to study archaeology – have been shattered. She is intensely unhappy, yet soon finds solace with the centre’s support team. By trial and error, she learns to understand the magic of her other senses, but she continues to struggle with vivid dreams in which she can still see.
After five documentaries, Mercedes Stalenhoef (Carmen Meets Borat, Karsu) made her first feature film. She based the story on that of a close friend who became blind as a result of a motorbike accident. In the film, she lets us experience what it is like to be blind; at regular intervals, the story is interrupted by remarkable scenes in which we see the world directly through Lot’s eyes.