A blind female Paralympic champion and world-record holder sets out to become the first blind person to ride a single, non-tandem, bike across the US, while confronting painful truths about her past that she’s spent a lifetime trying to outrun. Blind AF is about trauma, transcendence and power of self-belief.
SYNOPSIS
While working as a paramedic in 2009, Shawn Cheshire, a 36-year-old Army veteran and single mother of two, suffered a brain injury that left her completely without sight. Spiraling into a debilitating suicidal depression, Shawn sought treatment at a VA hospital where, through a combination of adaptive sports and treatment for Complex PTSD, she chose to rebuild her life while facing painful memories of the past for the first time. Within three years Shawn was competing at the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio and goes on to become a 13-time paracycling US National Champion, as well as world-record holder of the Grand Canyon crossing by a blind person.
Driven as much by the determination to live independently as by the restlessness and vulnerability borne of trauma, in 2021 Shawn embarks on an historic and perilous adventure of riding a single bike across the United States. As Shawn pedals east, her history and rich, introspective emotional life are revealed through the film’s use of animation, excerpts from her journal entries, interviews, therapy sessions and archival footage. Together, these elements give depth and texture to Shawn’s long road to healing and place the traumatic brain injury she endured in the context of a lifetime of pain and loss.
Blending poetic cinematography and intimate verité with immersive POV animation and sound design that brings the viewer inside her world, Blind AF is at once a thrilling epic of athletic achievement and a transformative portrait of emotional resilience and bravery.
Director Statement
Shawn’s story is one of resilience in motion and shows us how to take our life experiences to become who we are truly meant to be. We all have choice in the face of fear and trauma. For the last five years, I’ve been let into Shawn’s world to capture the journey of healing unfold and her quest to live life with purpose and joy. I’m grateful and humbled by Shawn’s bravery, vulnerability and trust.
The time we spent together, before the filming even started, sharing and listening to each other’s stories not only resonated with my own experiences but really changed my life. I felt obligated to share her story, not only with the disabled community and trauma survivors but, just as importantly, with the able-bodied community to create awareness of others’ realities and the roles we play in it as allies or obstacles.
Shawn's story explores topics of disability/inclusion, PTSD/mental health, domestic abuse and women’s empowerment. Our vision is to cultivate impact campaigns at grassroot levels to ensure that Shawn's story is amplified and accessible to a diverse, expansive audience.
Making the film accessible in audio description and closed captioning is an integral part of Blind AF and Shawn will be involved in the process. The accessibility features will be deliberate, meaningful, artistic and true to the film experience.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Gina LeVay
Gina LeVay works nationally and abroad for clients such as ESPN, Vanity Fair, Equinor, Smithsonian and Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Her award-winning documentary work about the legendary NYC miners, The Sandhog Project, premiered at New York's Grand Central Terminal and later was published as a book by powerHouse. LeVay’s work is exhibited in the US and Europe, including Museum of Contemporary Photography, Museo d'art Contemporanea Roma (MACRO), American Museum of Natural History and Museum of the City of New York. LeVay holds an MFA in Photography, Video & Related Media from the School of Visual Arts.
Jeff Zimbalist is a multi-Emmy and Peabody winning filmmaker most known for IDA and Tribeca Film Festival winner FAVELA RISING (HBO), Emmy winner and Cannes Film Festival favorite THE TWO ESCOBARS (ESPN, Disney), Emmy and Tribeca Film Festival winner MOMENTUM GENERATION (HBO, Universal), PELÉ; BIRTH OF A LEGEND (Magnolia, Universal), the Emmy winning series REMASTERED (Netflix), Emmy nominated THE LINE (Apple), Emmy nominated 11 MINUTES (Paramount+), SUPER LEAGUE; WAR FOR FOOTBALL (Apple), Sundance and Tribeca festival favorite INVISIBLE BEAUTY (Magnolia), and most recently, Sundance hit SKYWALKERS: A LOVE STORY (Netflix).
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Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
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