"The world is slippery, lumpy, wet, smelly and dark" - this is how the children at the Kindergarten for Blind Children in Laski describe their sensations. During classes, teachers and tutors prepare the children for independent life. At a local vegetable market the children "look" with hands at the products, trying to identify them. Touching some of them is nice, while others are unpleasant. Most of the children merrily drink in all the new experiences, but some of them remain alert and reserved. In the kindergarten, the children prepare a soup from the vegetables they bought, learn how to cut and place the ingredients in the pot and light the gas. Most of the classes taught there have such practical character. The children learn how to operate a zip fastener, tie their shoelaces, read the clock, come into contact with their peers and "see with hands". Performing everyday activities is not easy for them. Sometimes, in dreams, they forget about their disability. The boys want to be drivers and soldiers, while the girls - singers and dancers. But their greatest wish is to make a breakfast, cook a dinner, tidy up and do the washing. Simple, banal matters. But not for them.
"This film actually opens the viewers' eyes, making us aware of the extraordinariness of common things. It is a pity that we so quickly and easily forget about the fact that we are blind every day." (Lech Kurpiewski)
- Życie przed tobą / A Life to live, Poland 2003. Director and screenplay: Maciej Adamek; cinematography: Artur Żurawski; music: Helmut Ockenfels, Eric Satie; sound: Mirosław Rok; editing: Sławomir Goździk. Executive producer: Koncept Media. Production: Telewizja Polska Program 2., colour, 20 min.
Awards:
- Student Jury Award at the national competition of the Cracow Film Festival "for delicacy and sensitivity in showing that which cannot be shown", 2003;
- second prize at the "The Way We Live" Festival in Munich, 2003.
Source: the "Young Polish Cinema" catalogue, published by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, June 2007