On a Wednesday evening in May, we visit Ben for the first time at Eisbachwelle in Munich. Ben Neumann is 17 years old. He is wearing a black neoprene suit and a yellow helmet when we meet. Only the three dots on Ben's helmet tell us that he is blind. He has little memory of the specific faces and visual images that Ben collected before he went totally blind at the age of seven. Instead, the memories of his early childhood are imprinted on his mind in the same way that he now perceives his surroundings with his very own sensory perception. He has to be able to smell it, taste it and hear it in order to navigate the waves of the Eisbach or the open sea. He feels and trusts. Ben's big dream is to take part in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. In our short film, we tell the story of this beautiful other world, which Ben draws us into through sound and vision.
In collaboration with
Kilian Glassner, Fabian Gruber, Adrian Strohmer and Lia Bardehle (Set Photography)
Photos
Fabian Gruber
Shown at
Skate & Surf Film Festival, Milano, 2024
Bilbao Surf Film Festival, Bilbao, 2024
Flimmern & Rauschen, Jugendfilmfest, Munich, 2024
Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, 2024
Grenzland Filmtage, Selb (Czech Republic) and Regensburg, 2024
International Ocean Film Tour, Vol.9, 2023
Pinakothek der Moderne, Neue Sammlung, Designing for the Olympics, Munich, 2022
Dok.Fest, Dok. Around the Clock, Pre-Film, Munich, 2022
Awards
Oberbayerischer Jugendfilmpreis, 2023
On a Wednesday evening in May, we visit Ben for the first time at Eisbachwelle in Munich. Ben Neumann is 17 years old. He is wearing a black neoprene suit and a yellow helmet when we meet. Only the three dots on Ben's helmet tell us that he is blind. He has little memory of the specific faces and visual images that Ben collected before he went totally blind at the age of seven. Instead, the memories of his early childhood are imprinted on his mind in the same way that he now perceives his surroundings with his very own sensory perception. He has to be able to smell it, taste it and hear it in order to navigate the waves of the Eisbach or the open sea. He feels and trusts. Ben's big dream is to take part in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. In our short film, we tell the story of this beautiful other world, which Ben draws us into through sound and vision.
In collaboration with
Kilian Glassner, Fabian Gruber, Adrian Strohmer and Lia Bardehle (Set Photography)
Photos
Fabian Gruber
Shown at
Skate & Surf Film Festival, Milano, 2024
Bilbao Surf Film Festival, Bilbao, 2024
Flimmern & Rauschen, Jugendfilmfest, Munich, 2024
Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, 2024
Grenzland Filmtage, Selb (Czech Republic) and Regensburg, 2024
International Ocean Film Tour, Vol.9, 2023
Pinakothek der Moderne, Neue Sammlung, Designing for the Olympics, Munich, 2022
Dok.Fest, Dok. Around the Clock, Pre-Film, Munich, 2022
Awards
Oberbayerischer Jugendfilmpreis, 2023