2015 Heartland Film Festival Official Selection, Documentary Short Open Your Eyes is about Manisara and Durga, who have cataracts, and their Nepali mountain home that is now full of darkness.
We spoke with Director/Writer Irene Taylor Brodsky about her film:
HF: What is your film about, and how did the project come to be?
ITB: My film is about three days in the life of an aging blind couple in the mountains of Nepal, about a journey they take from darkness to sight. Throughout my 20s, I lived and worked in Nepal and always wanted to return to tell the stories of the Blind living there. I returned for some other film work last year, and so I took my equipment in hopes of finding someone. Seva, a great eye organization that’s been working in Nepal since the 70s, was running an eye camp that month, so I followed their team.
HF: What was your role in the production?
ITB: I am the director, the director of photography, producer and the co-editor of the film.
HF: Why did you submit to the Heartland Film Festival? Have you been to the Festival before?
ITB: I have had two films there before. Themes of my films have often aligned with your festival.
HF: This year’s tagline is “Movies That Stay with You” – what lasting effect will your film have on moviegoers?
ITB: My main characters, Durga and Manisara, are unforgettable. Having lived in Nepal for many years, I can tell you they are the real deal. Filled with humor, industriousness and an innate desire to connect with others.
HF: What has inspired you to become a filmmaker?
ITB: My entry point into filmmaking was photography; what has kept me in it is the storytelling… journeying into others lives with my camera.
HF: What is something that you know about filmmaking now, but you weren’t told when you started your career?
ITB: I was never told this would be a “career!” I just kind of fell into it
HF: How many film festivals has your film been a part of? What do you like the most about the festival experience?
ITB: Open Your Eyes was just released, so this is only its second festival. I love how festivals bridge our world. One week it may be playing to Americans in Indianapolis, and the next to the Dutch in Amsterdam. I hope that people can see themselves, and their culture, in my films.
HF: Heartland Film Festival moviegoers love filmmaker Q&As. Let’s say a Festival attendee wants to earn some brownie points—what is a question that you’d love to answer, but haven’t yet been asked?
ITB: Oh my. Any question earns brownie points in my book. I’m just grateful I’ve piqued someone’s curiosity.
See Open Your Eyes in Shorts Program 11: This, That, and the Other
- AMC Showplace Traders Point Theater 12 – Tuesday, Oct. 20 – 5:30 p.m.
- AMC Castleton Square 14 – Wednesday, Oct. 21 – 2:45 p.m.
- AMC Showplace Traders Point Theater 12 – Friday, Oct. 23 – 12 p.m.
