a bald young man appears in-focus, amidst hazy figures surrounding him. he wears glasses while looking up to the endless bright sky above him, his expression pensive. the film’s billing block, logos, and festival laurel adorn the sky to his right. as the skyline meets the young man’s head to the left, the film’s title appears: unseen Immersive Audio Podcast from PRX

Film Newsletter and Updates: Sep 19, 2024

Immersive Podcast

The story you’ve followed is now taking a new form. Tune in on Oct 8th for the launch of unseen: Life as a Blind Immigrant, a four-chapter podcast based on our film. In partnership with the award-winning PRX, this podcast uses our film’s audio description to take you on a cinematic experience that does not rely on vision or sight. Narrated by Nefertiti Matos-Olivares, our goal with this show is to further advance the accessibility of Pedro’s story.

New episodes are available every Tuesday in October in honor of World Blindness Awareness Month. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

A blue gradient background with white text has “The D-30 Disability Impact List” at the top centered above “2024 Honoree” which is in between two laurels. Below, text “Pedro Emmanuel Navarro Aguilar (he/him), USA” is to the left of a picture of Pedro, which fills the right. Pedro is a medium-skinned man wearing a brown button-up, dark blue cap, and glasses, smiling at the camera. At the bottom left corner is text “Diversability, #D30DisList”.

Celebrating Pedro

Out of nearly 200 nominations received, our dearest superstar Pedro has been named as part of the 2024 Diversability D-30 Disability Impact List, "honoring people with disabilities globally who are making a difference." On top of sharing his story on our film, this recognition honors Pedro for having "developed Nevada's first Spanish-language independent living skills course for the blind, providing basic training to the Hispanic community. He also co-facilitated a support group for survivors of the UNLV shooting, creating a safe space for healing."

Please join us in lifting up Pedro for the work he does in our communities!

Where to Watch

As we launch our podcast, the journey of our film continues across the US. Join us for these screenings, all are followed by Q&As with Set and Pedro. Open Captions and Audio Description available.

Cinema Conciencia in partnership with Rooted Language Justice: Saturday, Sep 21 at 5pm at Tía Chucha’s in the San Fernando Valley, CA. Light refreshments sold by Coateca Collective. Spanish interpretation provided.
Dialogues Documentary Festival at Milwaukee Film: Wisconsin Festival Premiere. Sunday, Sep 29 at 3:30pm at the Oriental Theater.
Documentary Forum in partnership with Third World Newsreel: Tuesday, Oct 1 at 6pm at City College of New York, Shepard Hall. ASL, CART, and light refreshments provided.

On top of our US screenings tour, audiences in México can also catch our film through AMBULANTE Presenta, free of charge. Upcoming highlights include:

Centro Regional de las Artes de Michoacán: Thu, Sep 26 at 6pm in Zamora Michoacán
Museo de Arte de Mazatlán: Tue, Oct 8 at 6pm in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. Special Q&A featuring Pedro and our editor, Daniel Chávez-Ontiveros.

REMINDER: Organizations that serve the undocumented and disability communities can continue to host a screening of unseen free of charge. Thank you to our partners at GOOD DOCS and the Ford Foundation for making this possible!

Colorful gumball-like shapes are suspended over a blue background. To the left is the title Film Independent Forum. September 27-28. Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles. On the top right: 40 Years Film Independent.

Happenings

Film Independent Forum will feature unseen and the Oscar-nominated Bobi Wine, The People’s President for a case study “of modern nonfiction filmmaking.” Our very own Diane Quon and Set Hernandez will be speaking about the journey of our film from development to distribution. Join us on Sat, Sep 28 at 3:15pm.

Brown Girls Doc Mafia featured unseen and the acclaimed film SUBJECT for its latest installation of Pause and Play: Participant Care to discuss community-centered filmmaking. In partnership with OTV, the event discussed relationship building, harm reduction, joy, and ethical practices in documentary.