Blind Country

A collaboration between two artists who trained at CalArts, the Californian art school noted for bold experiment, this film was inspired by H. G. Wells’ short story “The Country of the Blind”. In this a man who finds himself in an isolated valley populated by blind people needs to give up his power of sight – a tale whose underlying theme is castration. The film does not directly render the story but takes up the theme of repressed sexual fears. Beckman contributes the evocative power of the images and Kelley a harrowing, pared-down performance, to this avant-garde horror movie, unique of its kind.