2014 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Kirsten Johnson’s A Blind Eye

As a cinematographer, Kirsten Johnson has been a staple of the festival with the likes of Darfur Now, The Oath and more recently, The Invisible War – a docu about sexual assault in the United States military that unfathomably only got worse since the widespread media attention this docu received. Her (co-directed) non-fiction feature debut Deadline premiered at the fest back in 2004 – so it would have a nice ring to it if she returns a decade later with the Sundance-supported, sophomore effort titled A Blind Eye – a sort of Orwellian state in Afghanistan, with once removed POV from a documentarist and her subjects. The doc received some coin via Sundance’s Documentary Film Program and Fund (DFP) in 2012 and I imagine this year’s support from Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound to help with the score means this is fully ready to go. Sounds like a sizzler – I’m hoping that it’ll be infuriating as well.

Gist: This explores the nature of cinematography, and how the person behind the camera failed to see while filming. In Afghanistan through her encounters with two Afghan teenagers. Najeeb, a one-eyed boy, struggles to hide what really haunts him, while a bold teenage girl must decide how much she will risk to be visible. A U.S. Military surveillance blimp in the sky over Kabul tracks their every move.

Production Co./Producers: Unknown.

Prediction: U.S. Documentary Competition

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

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