if there could be a way by which the described film could be featured in a cinema hall open to all and jointly afforded by viewers at each city it would be an idea to be considered by all our AI members. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sanjay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 10:35 PM Subject: [AI] CONFRONTED BY A MOUNTAIN
> CONFRONTED BY A MOUNTAIN > by Ronald E. Milliman > > What does a blind person do when confronted by a mountain? For Erik > Weihenmayer, the answer is very simple: "You just climb it!" Erik lost his > sight at > age 13, but with the support of his parents, he has become the first, and > only, blind person to scale the highest mountains on all seven continents. > In > 1985, Erik learned to climb at a summer camp for the blind, and he has > been > climbing ever since. > > In 1995, Erik reached the peak of Denali (Mount McKinley) in Alaska, and > in > 1996, he scaled the top of California's El Capitan. Then, in 1997, he > accomplished > the greatest feat of all by getting married to his wife, Ellen Reeve, on > Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania! Later, in 1997, Erik reached the zenith of > Mount > Kilimanjaro. He climbed to the peak of Argentina's Aconcagua in 1999 and > to > the top of Canada's Polar Circus in 2000. Later that same year, he > conquered > Nepal's Ama Dablam as a part of his training for the Everest climb. In > March > 2001, Erik began his Mount Everest expedition and completed that feat of > topping > Mount Everest on May 25. He tackled and conquered Russia's Mount Elbrus in > 2002, and later that same year, he scaled Australia's Mount Kosciusko. > More > recently, in 2006, he went to Africa to complete an expedition that took > him > and his mountain- climbing team to the top of 17,300-foot Mount Kenya. > > Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Erik about his latest > excursion > to Tibet where he and a group of six blind teenagers scaled Mount Everest. > They climbed to a height of over 21,000 feet. The accomplishment is > captured > by his latest documentary, "BlindSight." The movie is set against the > breathtaking > backdrop of the Himalayas, and follows the riveting adventure of Erik, his > team of specialists, and six Tibetan teens who set out to climb the > 23,000-foot > Lhakpa Ri on the north side of Mount Everest. The movie fully describes > how > Erik and his team went to Tibet to visit a school for the blind and > recruited > a group of six teenagers who wanted, and were willing, to attempt to scale > Mount Everest with Erik's tutelage. > > "BlindSight" was released last month and is fully audio described. I had > the > pleasure of previewing the movie and found it fascinating. It reveals how > Erik > was invited to the school for the blind in Tibet by the school's students > and creator, Sabriye Tenberken, who is also a blind educator. Sabriye is > from > Germany, where she tried to join Germany's equivalent of the Peace Corps > when she turned 18, and was rejected because of her blindness. She > migrated > on > her own from Germany to Tibet, where she went from village to village > locating blind children. She then established a school for the blind, and > taught > them how to read and write braille. > > The movie delineates the extraordinary challenges and tribulations faced > by > the six teens, including how one of them had been sold by his parents to > become > a beggar on the streets and eventually ended up at the Tibetan school for > the blind. Believed by many Tibetans to be possessed by demons, the blind > children > are shunned by their relatives and villagers, and generally rejected by > the > society in which they live. "BlindSight" depicts how these six teenagers > are, > literally, rescued by Sabriye Tenberken, and shown how to achieve their > tallest challenges by Erik and his team of expert mountain climbers. > > Climbing tall mountains isn't the only thing Erik does. He is also a > long-distance cyclist, skydiver, accomplished snow skier, a marathon > runner, > former > middle-school teacher, wrestling coach, and author of two books. His > mountain-climbing adventures are also featured in another documentary, > "Farther than > the Eye Can See" (2003). > > I urge you to make an effort to see this movie. I believe you will enjoy > it > as much as I did, especially since it is audio-described. Watch for it in > your > area, and if there is a theater near you that has descriptive audio > capability, contact them and ask if they will show the movie. This could > also be an > excellent documentary for universities and colleges to show as a part of > their various diversity programs. Theaters interested in showing this > movie > should > contact Richard Abramowitz at (914) 273-9545 or e-mail him at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
