What's It Like To Be In A Documentary?

This week's Blog submission is something a little special. On Saturday September 18th, Blind Beginnings hosted a Movie Screening Fundraiser that featured a screening of the documentary, "Through My Eyes", a short film that featured Blind Beginnings Executive Director Shawn Marsolais and her journey through vision loss and the eventual founding of the organization. Also featured in the documentary were several youth who have been involved in Blind Beginnings programs, one of which was Alina. We asked Alina's mom, Maria, to sit down with Alina and ask her some questions about the filming process and how it felt to be featured in a document, and we have included the results below!

What was it like to be in a documentary?
Ooh, that's a hard one! It was fun, but also kind of awkward because I don't like hearing myself on recordings. It was cool though to see it in the theatre because it was really well-described by the audio describer.

What was your favorite part of the filming?
My favourite part was probably when my cat laid down on the camera cord and wouldn't get off. Jaeger had to fight him off.

Was there anything you found challenging about the filming? If so what?
They way they needed me to sit straight on the couch when we were doing the interview. It was not very comfortable. Also, my brother and sister kept being silly and interfering.

Were you nervous knowing that many people would watch this movie?
Yes, I was. My nerves really kicked in when I went up for the Q&A because I could feel people looking at me. I thought "should I?"... but I did it.

What was it like watching yourself on the big screen?
It was like going back in time, like using a time machine [makes funny sound machine beeping noises].

What do you hope people learn from watching this movie?
I hope they learn that just because you're blind doesn't mean you can't do certain things, and being blind is a good difference.

Why is Blind Beginnings important to you?
Because I get to do a lot of stuff that I normally wouldn't get to do, like baking, reading Harry Potter and playing tennis.

A huge thank you to Maria and Alina for helping with this week's blog!