WEBVTT

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(rope slapping
concrete)

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♪

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(child laughing)

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♪

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Maria: I remember my mother
taking me to the optometrist

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for the first time.

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And him telling her that
I had inherited her condition.

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He called it
progressive myopia.

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And that one day, as her,
I was going to go blind.

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I didn\'t know what
progressive myopia was.

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I didn\'t know
what progressive was

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and I didn\'t know
what myopia was.

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And when we came out of the
doctor\'s office,

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I asked my mother, \"Mama,
when will we go blind?\"

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And my
mother said,

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\"Never.\"

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♪

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My mother
said never.

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♪

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Yeah.

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♪

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♪

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I was
born in Chile.

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I come from
a large family.

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I studied Law and Drama there,
married, and we had a child.

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I came to Canada shortly
after the military coup.

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And I have been working
as an independent filmmaker

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for over 20 years.

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Now I am
going blind.

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And this will
be my last film.

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(chiming)

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(chiming)

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These 2 photographs
I want to show

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because they are
very important.

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They were taken more or
less at the same time.

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And ehh, these are
the pictures,

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a little bit dusty,
of my mother

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when she was more
or less the age

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I am now in her sixties,
63, 64 I think.

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And this is a picture of
myself in the same time.

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When I was in my 40s,
something like that.

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I think she\'s sad
in this picture.

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Si.

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(water dripping)

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(bird calling)

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(bike bell dings)

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I was physically
very active.

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I loved riding my
bike through Toronto.

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And I especially liked
to go to Ontario Lake,

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I went
there every day.

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And one day
I was riding my bike.

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It was a cloudy day.
it was raining.

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And I love rain.

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(singing in Spanish)

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And all of a sudden I felt
something tearing inside

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my right eye.

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As if something
had broken.

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(birds squacking)

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(gasp)

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(tires ticking)

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When I got up, uhh,
the world had changed.

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Trees looked wavy like serpents,
and rather than walking

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people seemed to be
floating on the air.

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Like in a
painting of Chagal.

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♪

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I walked my bike
to the doctor.

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And he told me that
I had macular degeneration.

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That the condition wouldprobably spread to my left eye.

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And that
I would go blind.

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At first
I was shocked.

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And I refused
to believe him.

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But then
I remembered.

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♪

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(rope slapping
concrete)

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I called my sister Anna in Chile
and I called my son Nicholas

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in Costa Rica.

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They were devastated and they
wanted to come to Canada

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to support me.

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But I held
them off

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because I thought I had to
deal with this on my own.

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I did not tell my mother
that I was going blind.

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By then she was 85 years old andshe had lost most of her vision.

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So what
was the point?

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Looking up.

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Down.

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Maria: My first doctor had
sent me to a specialist and she confirmed
his diagnosis.

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She said that my condition was
progressive and irreversible.

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Want you to look
down to the right.

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At my finger
here, yeah.

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Keep looking
way down.

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Maria: There was
no cure.

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Might burn a little.

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Looking way here,
good.

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I\'m just gonna let the
little Q-tip rest

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as I get everything
else ready.

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Maria: And eh, she offered
me a palliative treatment,

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which might help slow down
the process of decay.

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And you\'re done.

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(chiming)

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Maria: If I had been a painter,
I would have painted my pain.

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If I had been a writer,
I would have written about it.

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But working on images,
I had to make this film.

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I did it out
of desperation.

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♪

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♪

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My life
changed completely.

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♪

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I was modeling, making
films, and dancing tango.

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♪

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I also had a lover.

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♪

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♪

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But all that
came to an end.

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As if someone
had drawn a curtain.

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Outside, the world,
inside, me.

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♪

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I stopped modeling because
one day while doing gestures

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I fell out of
the platform.

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Because I didn\'t
see the edge.

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I stopped dancing tango becausethe dancing hall was very dark.

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And I had become a shadow
dancing amidst the shadows.

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I left my lover
because I didn\'t think

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he would be able to love
me as a blind woman.

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♪

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♪

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There was one call
I left to the end

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and this was to
my brother, Tati.

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Tati: Maria Teresa?

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He and I have a special
connection because we

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share the same condition,
macular degeneration.

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The inheritance
of our mother.

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As we spoke, I realized that itwas the first time in our lives

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that Tati and I spoke
honestly about our blindness.

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(speaking Spanish)

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As all this
was going on,

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I was trying to complete
my previous film.

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It was called Besieged Land and
it told the story

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of a Maputo chief
who had been accused

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of burning a landowner\'s
home in the South of Chile.

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By the time the film wascompleted, I could no longer see

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the faces of the
people I had shot.

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But the film was out and to
me that was a huge relief.

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(drumming)

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(honking)

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After the bike accident,
my doctor had told me that

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I needed to use
a white cane.

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I was angry
at him.

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I was not blind.

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But one day as I was coming down
the bus, I missed the steps and fell
onto the street.

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A car almost
hit me.

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It was only then that I
called the National Institute

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for the Blind.

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When the woman came to teach me,
I was reluctant, you know, ahh.

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Go away with your cane,
go away with your cane.

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So she taught me how to
cross streets, how to walk,

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how to move with
a cane, and so on.

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And I remember that
I passed through some people

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that I knew in the
neighbourhood.

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I thought
I hear their voices.

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And I pretended
I was not me.

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(laughs)

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(birds chirping)

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A white cane says
something about you.

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People see the cane,
they don\'t see you.

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And I\'ve had that
shame, that shame.

00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:09.710 position:20% line:20%
I would put my cane
in the corner of the room

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and I would
hate that cane.

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I would hate it because
it told a story about me.

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It said, \"This is
who you are now.\"

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And I\'m not proud of
what I felt, I am not proud

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of having felt
ashamed of my cane.

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Because it\'s like feeling
ashamed of my blindness.

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I\'m not
proud of that.

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But that\'s
how I felt.

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(birds calling)

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After I completed
my film I was broke.

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I had nothing
to fall back on.

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A friend of mine told me to
apply to disability benefits.

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I had lived and worked in
Canada for over 30 years

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and I had paid
my contributions.

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♪

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But my benefits were denied
because I had kept working on

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my previous film after
I had been declared blind.

00:15:16.467 --> 00:15:20.400 line:20%
♪

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This rejection came
as a big blow to me.

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Because, since
I had no money

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I had to apply to
social assistance.

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And this humiliated
me very much.

00:15:44.601 --> 00:15:48.234 line:20%
♪

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A few days later I got a call
from my sister Anna in Chile.

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It came in the middle of the
night and as soon as I heard

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Anna\'s voice, I knew
what had happened.

00:16:02.534 --> 00:16:05.367 line:20%
♪

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♪

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How do you--

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How do you mourn
your mother in another land?

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How do you mourn for yourmother when you are not at home?

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How do you mourn for yourmother when you are not at home?

00:16:45.734 --> 00:16:49.133 line:20%
♪

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They said goodbye to my motherwith the tango she used to like.

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(Singing in Spanish)

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(birds calling)

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(water splashing)

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(waves crashing)

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(waves crashing)

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(bird crowing)

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The death of my mother
unleashed all my fears.

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Fear of darkness,
fear of poverty,

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fear of the isolation
that comes with blindness.

00:18:00.033 --> 00:18:03.534
(birds chirping)

00:18:09.234 --> 00:18:14.234
(birds chirping)

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When I was
losing I hope,

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I got a letter from
my brother Pato in Chile.

00:18:25.734 --> 00:18:29.234
He offered
me a job.

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He told me
they all missed me.

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And he urged
me to return.

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(water running)

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That is how, after 30 years
of living in exile,

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I returned to Chile.

00:19:00.367 --> 00:19:03.434
My family, home.

00:19:05.334 --> 00:19:07.067
(announcer talking)

00:19:42.167 --> 00:19:46.334
(bird cooing)

00:19:51.434 --> 00:19:56.434
(bird cooing)

00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:06.500
Tela was my mother and shebecame a widow when she was 35.

00:20:10.534 --> 00:20:14.701
She was left
with 10 children.

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The oldest was 10,
and the youngest, 1.

00:20:18.767 --> 00:20:20.634
My mother could not
support us financially.

00:20:23.701 --> 00:20:26.677
So she was forced
to part with us.

00:20:26.701 --> 00:20:28.767
And we were sent to live
with different relatives.

00:20:30.100 --> 00:20:32.000
When Uncle Gabriel came for me,
my mother called me aside

00:20:35.567 --> 00:20:40.601
and she told me the
separation was going to last

00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:46.009
only for
a little while.

00:20:46.033 --> 00:20:47.567
And she told me that she
loved me very, very much.

00:20:49.567 --> 00:20:51.667 line:20%
♪

00:20:58.634 --> 00:21:03.634 line:20%
♪

00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:19.343
But our separation
lasted a long time.

00:21:19.367 --> 00:21:22.443
And as a way
to see us,

00:21:22.467 --> 00:21:24.976
my mother invited us to the
Waldorf Astoria in Santiago,

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.076
which was a restaurant that
she used to go with my father.

00:21:29.100 --> 00:21:32.167
And when we got there,
we would see our mother.

00:21:33.167 --> 00:21:36.510
She was sitting at the head ofthe table, all dressed in black,

00:21:36.534 --> 00:21:40.243
looking like
a queen.

00:21:40.267 --> 00:21:41.510 line:20%
♪

00:21:41.534 --> 00:21:44.143
And we would laugh and
quarrel and stuff ourselves

00:21:44.167 --> 00:21:49.009
with ice cream
until the last penny

00:21:49.033 --> 00:21:51.310
of mother\'s widow
pension cheque was gone.

00:21:51.334 --> 00:21:54.334
Then we would each leave
to our different homes.

00:21:55.434 --> 00:21:59.167
But we left feeling that
we were still a family,

00:22:02.133 --> 00:22:06.610
feeling that
we were loved.

00:22:06.634 --> 00:22:08.601 line:20%
♪

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.500
(laughing)

00:24:15.734 --> 00:24:21.000
Maria: She was 95 just a few
months before her death.

00:24:21.467 --> 00:24:25.300
When she died she
was completely blind.

00:24:26.367 --> 00:24:29.100
She had to touch our
faces to recognize us.

00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:33.701
Yeah.

00:24:41.033 --> 00:24:45.643
So shortly after
I arrived in Chile

00:24:45.667 --> 00:24:47.643
I started working
with my brother Pato

00:24:47.667 --> 00:24:50.009
in the development
of the housing project

00:24:50.033 --> 00:24:53.710
for low-income
people.

00:24:53.734 --> 00:24:55.500
My job consisted in filling
out electronic forms

00:24:56.300 --> 00:25:00.276
in the computer, and
developing community projects

00:25:00.300 --> 00:25:04.567
with the women,
with the families.

00:25:04.701 --> 00:25:07.334
But as my
vision diminished,

00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:11.710
it became very difficult
for me to do my work.

00:25:11.734 --> 00:25:14.310
To do my job.

00:25:14.334 --> 00:25:19.634
Because I could no longer see
the letters in the computer. I never told my brother about
my diminishing vision

00:25:21.334 --> 00:25:26.410
and instead pretended I could
see much more than that.

00:25:26.434 --> 00:25:31.133
That I could,
that I really could.

00:25:59.167 --> 00:26:04.400
And I don\'t know if I was able
to deceive my brother, but em,

00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:11.410
I realized that I could not
and did not want to

00:26:11.434 --> 00:26:15.243
deceive myself
any longer.

00:26:15.267 --> 00:26:17.000
I am not
sighted anymore.

00:26:18.067 --> 00:26:21.100
I do not belong to
that world anymore.

00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:39.743
This was my
grandmother\'s home.

00:26:39.767 --> 00:26:42.577
She lived on the 3rd
floor and we lived with her.

00:26:42.601 --> 00:26:46.634
My mother, my
father, and all of us.

00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:56.143
While we lived here, my mother
took me to the optometrist

00:26:56.167 --> 00:26:59.743
for the first time.

00:26:59.767 --> 00:27:02.133
I was 7 years old.

00:27:04.167 --> 00:27:07.976 line:20%
♪

00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:12.434
How do you tell a
child she will be blind?

00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:15.367
How do you prepare
a child for blindness?

00:27:20.734 --> 00:27:25.434
By keeping her
out of the light?

00:27:28.667 --> 00:27:33.476
After I lost the job
with my brother,

00:27:33.500 --> 00:27:36.176
I thought that there
was nothing else for me to do

00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:39.009
and I was
very desperate,

00:27:39.033 --> 00:27:41.076
because I did not want
to live from my family.

00:27:41.100 --> 00:27:43.476
Of course they would
have helped me out,

00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:45.476
but you don\'t want
to live on people

00:27:45.500 --> 00:27:47.543
helping you out
all the time.

00:27:47.567 --> 00:27:49.443
It totally limits your
freedom and your dignity.

00:27:49.467 --> 00:27:52.410
So I was very
desperate

00:27:52.434 --> 00:27:56.567
and I started walking,
walking, walking. And I walked through
Santiago streets.

00:27:56.767 --> 00:27:59.400
And one day when I was
walking I, I got lost.

00:28:02.667 --> 00:28:05.734
(people talking)

00:28:09.701 --> 00:28:14.710
And a street vendor
heard the sound of my cane.

00:28:14.734 --> 00:28:17.310
Ta ta ta ta ta ta.

00:28:17.334 --> 00:28:19.310
Because in the Alameda
everybody knows each other

00:28:19.334 --> 00:28:21.310
because of the sound
of their canes.

00:28:21.334 --> 00:28:23.109
And probably I sounded
strange to him, and he said,

00:28:23.133 --> 00:28:25.577
\"Are you lost?\"
And I said yes.

00:28:25.601 --> 00:28:30.376
And his name was
Andres Albornoz.

00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:33.133 line:20%
They call him.

00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:36.000
(bird whistle)

00:28:53.467 --> 00:28:58.577
Through Birdman, I met the
other blind street vendors.

00:28:58.601 --> 00:29:02.767
Louis, Carlos, Guillermo,
Chago and Maria.

00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:57.043
Maria: Luis is
a musician.

00:29:57.067 --> 00:29:59.234
Like me, he was born sightedand he has macular degeneration.

00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:04.267
But now he has gone
completely blind.

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:46.009
Maria: I felt touched by
the blind street vendors.

00:31:46.033 --> 00:31:49.467
With them, blindness
was normal.

00:31:49.734 --> 00:31:53.100
With them, I no longer had to
pretend that I was sighted.

00:31:55.734 --> 00:31:57.434
I felt attracted to them,
but I was also afraid of them.

00:32:02.033 --> 00:32:06.601
Of what they
represented to me.

00:32:13.267 --> 00:32:17.434
(dog barking)

00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:42.343
The first street vendors came tothe Alameda about 40 years ago.

00:32:42.367 --> 00:32:46.076
Most of them
were disabled.

00:32:46.100 --> 00:32:48.043
And they
wanted to work.

00:32:48.067 --> 00:32:50.476
Their pensions were
very low and they wanted to,

00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:53.234
to find a way
to survive.

00:32:57.634 --> 00:33:02.743
The authorities tried to get rid
of them many, many times,

00:33:02.767 --> 00:33:06.543
saying that they
obstructed the public way.

00:33:06.567 --> 00:33:09.667
But they
kept coming back.

00:33:12.667 --> 00:33:16.701
(alarm)

00:33:28.767 --> 00:33:31.434
(speaking spanish)

00:34:04.133 --> 00:34:08.300
(bird whistle)

00:35:20.300 --> 00:35:25.043
Maria: My world
was turning grey.

00:35:25.067 --> 00:35:28.009
There was
still light.

00:35:28.033 --> 00:35:29.734
I still saw shapes,
shadows. movement.

00:35:30.267 --> 00:35:34.701
But the colours
were gone.

00:35:35.667 --> 00:35:38.000
My doctor told me
that I had cataracts.

00:35:40.567 --> 00:35:44.176
He said he could
remove them.

00:35:44.200 --> 00:35:46.743
He warned me
that my vision

00:35:46.767 --> 00:35:49.243
per say would not
improve, but he said.

00:35:49.267 --> 00:35:52.710
\"The colours
would return.\"

00:35:52.734 --> 00:35:56.067
I asked him if
there were any risks.

00:35:56.601 --> 00:36:00.367
\"Well,\" he said, \"Your
case is complicated.\"

00:36:01.667 --> 00:36:04.434
I told him
I would wait.

00:36:06.334 --> 00:36:08.334
\"Wait for what?\"

00:36:09.500 --> 00:36:11.133
I did not want to
lose in the operation

00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:15.200
the little vision
I still had.

00:36:19.701 --> 00:36:24.033
(preaching)

00:37:41.100 --> 00:37:45.234
(bird whistle)

00:37:46.133 --> 00:37:49.667
Maria: A year had elapsed
since my mother\'s death

00:37:51.200 --> 00:37:54.210
and my
return to Chile.

00:37:54.234 --> 00:37:56.410
And I had spent
much of that time

00:37:56.434 --> 00:37:58.467
with the blind
street vendors.

00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:01.234
They had told me about thestruggles to get their permits,

00:38:04.133 --> 00:38:07.376
police harassment, them
being thrown into jail,

00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:11.976
hunger strikes
they\'d been on

00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:14.567
and the bird man said they
had been through a lot.

00:38:16.334 --> 00:38:20.100 line:20%
(chanting)

00:38:20.434 --> 00:38:24.243
But here they were 30 years
later holding on to

00:38:24.267 --> 00:38:28.033
their permits and fighting
for their right to work.

00:38:37.033 --> 00:38:42.210
What made me very angry aboutpeople rejecting my application

00:38:42.234 --> 00:38:46.267 line:20%
is that if I had not worked, if
I had just said, \"I\'m blind,\"

00:38:47.100 --> 00:38:51.743
they would give me a
check, shut up, go home

00:38:51.767 --> 00:38:54.343 line:20%
and then you have a 63 year old
woman, or a 50-something

00:38:54.367 --> 00:38:57.343 line:20%
that I was then, at home,
depressed, taking pills.

00:38:57.367 --> 00:39:01.009
With none--
With nothing!

00:39:01.033 --> 00:39:02.276
And without really--

00:39:02.300 --> 00:39:04.109 line:20%
don\'t I have anything
else to give to society?

00:39:04.133 --> 00:39:06.743 line:20%
Do you just send your people
home because it\'s easier

00:39:06.767 --> 00:39:09.343 line:20%
for a society to
send them home?

00:39:09.367 --> 00:39:12.276 line:20%
Without working and
become a burden of the state?

00:39:12.300 --> 00:39:16.200
When you can
contribute to society

00:39:16.467 --> 00:39:18.200
in so many ways,
you know?

00:41:46.033 --> 00:41:50.133
(cheering)

00:41:50.267 --> 00:41:54.334
(chanting)

00:41:59.434 --> 00:42:04.434
(chanting)

00:42:09.334 --> 00:42:13.443
(loud bang)

00:42:13.467 --> 00:42:15.334
(yelling)

00:42:18.167 --> 00:42:22.267
(coughing)

00:42:35.734 --> 00:42:40.033
(yelling)

00:42:45.133 --> 00:42:50.133
(yelling)

00:43:05.534 --> 00:43:09.667
(bird whistle)

00:43:14.767 --> 00:43:19.767
(bird whistle)

00:43:29.767 --> 00:43:34.100
(bird whistle)

00:44:51.467 --> 00:44:56.634
Maria: From the street vendors I learned that I was not alone.

00:44:57.234 --> 00:45:01.300
I also learned
that as a blind person

00:45:02.067 --> 00:45:04.710
I had to fight
for my rights.

00:45:04.734 --> 00:45:07.200
I decided to appeal the decision
of the Canadian government,

00:45:08.267 --> 00:45:11.410
which had denied my disability
benefits, and, uh,

00:45:11.434 --> 00:45:15.410
8 months later I got a letter
from them telling me

00:45:15.434 --> 00:45:19.376
my appeal had been accepted
and that I had to return

00:45:19.400 --> 00:45:23.133
to Toronto
to defend my case.

00:45:24.100 --> 00:45:26.234
I went to my sister
Ana to say goodbye.

00:47:45.434 --> 00:47:49.400 line:20%
♪

00:47:54.500 --> 00:47:59.500 line:20%
♪

00:48:38.467 --> 00:48:43.376
Maria: The president of
the tribunal asked me,

00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:46.109
\"What do you see
at this moment?\"

00:48:46.133 --> 00:48:48.343
And I said, \"I am in a grey
room, everything is grey,

00:48:48.367 --> 00:48:52.767
the walls are grey, the roof is
grey, the ground is grey.

00:48:53.400 --> 00:48:58.443
There is light coming inthrough a big window I suppose.

00:48:58.467 --> 00:49:02.243
And I see the 3
people in front of me.

00:49:02.267 --> 00:49:04.976
I don\'t really see them,
I know you are there

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:07.410
because the 3 of
you have spoken.\"

00:49:07.434 --> 00:49:09.500
And then the president of the
tribunal wanted to know,

00:49:12.234 --> 00:49:15.443
what was the effect of,
uh, the blindness

00:49:15.467 --> 00:49:18.143
that it was
having in my life.

00:49:18.167 --> 00:49:20.601
And, uh, I told him, \"I-I\'m afilm maker, I work with images.\"

00:49:25.067 --> 00:49:28.400
Uh, then they asked
me also what--

00:49:33.500 --> 00:49:38.043 line:20%
I also told him that the effect
the blindness was having on me,

00:49:38.067 --> 00:49:42.176
not only my personal life, mywork was being very restricted.

00:49:42.200 --> 00:49:46.200
Also in terms of my professional
life, because I did not want,

00:49:48.734 --> 00:49:53.677
eh, my peers to know
that I was going blind

00:49:53.701 --> 00:49:57.667
I did not want
them to pity me.

00:49:58.234 --> 00:49:59.767
The government official wanted
to know how I had written

00:50:03.400 --> 00:50:07.310
that powerful letter
of appeal if I was blind?

00:50:07.334 --> 00:50:11.643
And I told him, uh,
it was my eyes

00:50:11.667 --> 00:50:15.033
which have been
affected, not my mind.

00:50:17.567 --> 00:50:22.543
On my return to Chile I told my
doctor that I was ready

00:50:22.567 --> 00:50:27.200
to have my
cataracts operation.

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.100
I pretended that everything
was fine, but I was afraid.

00:50:50.267 --> 00:50:55.043
It is one thing to
live in the fog

00:50:55.067 --> 00:50:57.334
and another to
live in darkness.

00:51:24.667 --> 00:51:28.634 line:20%
♪

00:51:33.734 --> 00:51:38.734 line:20%
♪

00:52:09.601 --> 00:52:14.400
The next day I removed
my bandages.

00:52:14.567 --> 00:52:18.000
My vision did not improve
but the colours returned.

00:52:22.534 --> 00:52:26.167 line:20%
♪

00:52:31.601 --> 00:52:36.601 line:20%
♪

00:53:52.100 --> 00:53:56.677
While I was waiting
for a verdict,

00:53:56.701 --> 00:53:59.510
my son called me
from Costa Rica.

00:53:59.534 --> 00:54:02.300
\"Mama, we miss
you. Come.

00:54:03.434 --> 00:54:07.434
We will wait for the
verdict together.\"

00:55:47.500 --> 00:55:51.467 line:20%
♪

00:55:56.567 --> 00:56:01.567 line:20%
♪

00:56:11.767 --> 00:56:16.143
That\'s beautiful.

00:56:16.167 --> 00:56:17.567
I could see her face
when she was born,

00:56:19.701 --> 00:56:22.476
but now it\'s disappearing
along with the faces

00:56:22.500 --> 00:56:26.343
of all the people
I once knew.

00:56:26.367 --> 00:56:29.467 line:20%
♪

00:56:34.601 --> 00:56:39.601 line:20%
♪

00:56:49.601 --> 00:56:54.677
I was afraid that I would notbe able to be a good grandmother

00:56:54.701 --> 00:56:58.710
because of-of
my blindness.

00:56:58.734 --> 00:57:01.210
I was afraid that I would no
not be able to go with them.

00:57:01.234 --> 00:57:06.076
Get-go and get some ice
cream with them,

00:57:06.100 --> 00:57:09.109
discover the
world with them.

00:57:09.133 --> 00:57:10.601
I did not want to be a
prisoner of my blindness.

00:58:20.167 --> 00:58:25.043
Nicolas told me once
that he was happy

00:58:25.067 --> 00:58:28.767
that I had seen the girls before
I went completely blind.

00:58:31.100 --> 00:58:34.067
And I asked him,

00:58:35.267 --> 00:58:37.267
\"Nicolas, do we know people
only through our eyes?\"

00:58:40.500 --> 00:58:44.000 line:20%
♪

00:58:49.567 --> 00:58:54.567 line:20%
♪

00:58:55.601 --> 00:59:00.276
Many times, our
eyes deceive us.

00:59:00.300 --> 00:59:04.133 line:20%
♪

00:59:09.234 --> 00:59:14.234 line:20%
♪

00:59:15.434 --> 00:59:20.400
We can know people not
only through out eyes...

00:59:21.100 --> 00:59:23.734 line:20%
♪

00:59:27.634 --> 00:59:32.601
We can know them
through touch, our hands,

00:59:38.667 --> 00:59:43.567
through sound, in
terms of knowing people,

00:59:51.033 --> 00:59:53.567
our whole body
can be an eye.

00:59:57.634 --> 01:00:01.601 line:20%
♪

01:00:13.033 --> 01:00:13.734
(birds chirping)

01:01:37.467 --> 01:01:42.100 line:20%
Really, you don\'t,
how come?

01:03:31.634 --> 01:03:37.009
Maria: I finally got the verdict
from the Canadian government.

01:03:37.033 --> 01:03:40.067
I have, uh, 20 dollars
in my account

01:03:41.067 --> 01:03:44.000
and I have no other
source of income.

01:03:44.634 --> 01:03:46.434
Computer: Desktop activated.

01:03:49.234 --> 01:03:50.743
Internet explorer.

01:03:50.767 --> 01:03:52.334
Windows-windows
Internet explorer.

01:03:57.767 --> 01:04:02.467
More combo box,
more combo box.

01:04:05.300 --> 01:04:09.067
Made Queen-a Larrain.

01:04:09.601 --> 01:04:12.476
Search Mail.

01:04:12.500 --> 01:04:14.033 line:20%
♪

01:04:14.300 --> 01:04:19.343
Ms Larrain, provided thetribunal with a thorough history

01:04:19.367 --> 01:04:22.176
of her condition and the
tribunal found her testimony

01:04:22.200 --> 01:04:24.610
to be both credible
and reliable.

01:04:24.634 --> 01:04:27.300
She described how her vision
quickly diminished during

01:04:27.500 --> 01:04:30.009
the production stage
of her last film.

01:04:30.033 --> 01:04:32.243
She was not able
to complete the work

01:04:32.267 --> 01:04:34.276
in the way she had hoped for
or done so in the past.

01:04:34.300 --> 01:04:37.543
She needed to utilize her
colleagues to be her eyes.

01:04:37.567 --> 01:04:41.076
She was not born blind, she thusdid not have a lifetime to learn

01:04:41.100 --> 01:04:44.976
how to function
without sight.

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:47.076
Then she finds herself near age
60, suddenly without vision

01:04:47.100 --> 01:04:50.376
and without
the skills a person

01:04:50.400 --> 01:04:51.976
who had a lifetime
of blindness would have.

01:04:52.000 --> 01:04:55.000
She made other efforts to try
working and the panel finds

01:04:55.300 --> 01:04:58.109
that she did so because
of her very strong work ethic

01:04:58.133 --> 01:05:00.710
and that this work was not
indicative of her capacity

01:05:00.734 --> 01:05:03.476
to pursue regular
gainful employment.

01:05:03.500 --> 01:05:06.510
The appeal
is allowed.

01:05:06.534 --> 01:05:08.434 line:20%
♪

01:05:15.167 --> 01:05:20.167 line:20%
♪

01:05:27.334 --> 01:05:31.467
(harp playing)

01:05:36.567 --> 01:05:41.567
(harp playing)

01:06:19.200 --> 01:06:23.334
Maria Teresa.

01:06:23.634 --> 01:06:24.334 line:20%
Maria Teresa?

01:06:28.434 --> 01:06:29.300 line:20%
(harp playing)

01:06:37.667 --> 01:06:42.667 line:20%
(harp playing)

01:07:36.167 --> 01:07:40.300
(harp playing)

01:07:45.500 --> 01:07:50.701
I-I don\'t know if-if I will beable to see the film I\'m making.

01:07:52.434 --> 01:07:56.467
I certainly will not be
able to see the film

01:07:57.367 --> 01:08:00.343
the way other
people do.

01:08:00.367 --> 01:08:02.500
But I will be able to
see the film my own way.

01:08:09.434 --> 01:08:14.276
and I will be very
careful to make sure

01:08:14.300 --> 01:08:17.701
that the blind street vendorssee the film their own way too.

01:09:35.434 --> 01:09:39.500
(laughing)

01:10:00.601 --> 01:10:05.701
During her last year my mother
would not be left alone.

01:10:06.667 --> 01:10:10.634
We would
leave her room

01:10:11.300 --> 01:10:16.167
and she would call us screaming,
\"Come back! Come back!\" We thought that she
was afraid of death.

01:10:17.400 --> 01:10:20.434
But now, when I\'m
going blind,

01:10:22.133 --> 01:10:25.334
I realize that she was
afraid of darkness.

01:10:26.634 --> 01:10:28.267
Because when
you go blind

01:10:31.300 --> 01:10:33.643
and everything is
dark there\'s nothing.

01:10:33.667 --> 01:10:38.033
There is nothing.

01:10:40.334 --> 01:10:45.076
This is for the
one who has seen,

01:10:45.100 --> 01:10:49.143
because the one
who was born blind

01:10:49.167 --> 01:10:53.234
has a different
perception of darkness.

01:11:05.367 --> 01:11:10.176
Light, for me, has
become capricious.

01:11:10.200 --> 01:11:14.067
It appears
and disappears.

01:11:14.667 --> 01:11:17.500
It\'s playful and when
light is there I welcome it.

01:11:26.267 --> 01:11:30.234 line:20%
♪

01:11:37.133 --> 01:11:41.643
I will always
miss the light.

01:11:41.667 --> 01:11:44.109
I will always
miss the stars,

01:11:44.133 --> 01:11:46.300
the moon, the sun
shining on the water.

01:11:47.067 --> 01:11:49.033 line:20%
♪

01:11:56.133 --> 01:12:01.133 line:20%
♪

01:13:03.567 --> 01:13:07.534 line:20%
♪

01:13:12.634 --> 01:13:17.634 line:20%
♪