BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL
THINGS is
a new documentary that is the buzz of the blind and low vision communities. The
film tells an uplifting and true story of a young legally blind woman, Michelle
Smith. Michelle is a student at the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston
(where much of the movie is filmed). The story concerns Michelle’s quest for her
dreams in spite of being treated like an outcast by her peers.
In
BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS, Director
Garrett Zevgetis provides an uncensored look at Smith’s life and challenges.
She has some vision but is legally blind, experiences autism and is bruised by
her parent’s divorce. None of this deters her from her dream of becoming a
Hollywood voice actor.
|
Dr.
Lotfi Merabet |
Dr.
Lotfi Merabet, OD, PhD, MPH at Harvard University was a key consultant for BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS. Critics
have praised the film’s portrayal of blindness, low vision and the social
awkwardness of many people with vision deficits. Dr. Merabet is the featured
speaker at the 2017 CATSS Symposium, February 3rd at the University
of Minnesota. You can find Information about the Symposium below.
Take
a look at the promotional trailer [link].
Here
is Huffington Post’s review of the film:
Best and Most
Beautiful Things Premieres at SXSW
03/01/2016 11:39 am
ET | Updated Mar 01, 2016
Xaque Gruber, Writer
One of the year’s
most touching documentary films, Best and Most Beautiful Things, makes its
world premiere this month at SXSW. A provocative and joyous coming of age
portrait of precocious 20 year old Michelle Smith of rural Maine, she’s both
legally blind and diagnosed on the autism spectrum, but the film does not
pander to that. She bursts off the screen as someone immensely relatable.
You’ll want to know her. This is a powerful, affecting journey into a young
woman’s mind as she searches for connection and empowerment by exploring life
outside the limits of “normal” through a “fringe community.”
I had the pleasure
of speaking with the film’s Executive Producer, Kevin Bright, who has succeeded
in navigating the waters of both TV (he was Executive Producer of Friends) and
film (his previous documentary work includes directing the 2007 film about his
vaudevillian father, Who Ordered Tax?). Kevin executive produced the film with
Claudia Bright.
Xaque Gruber: What
was it about this project that attracted you? How did it find you?
Kevin Bright: My
involvement with the project began in 2009 when I started a filmmaking class
for students at the Perkins School for The Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Michelle Smith was in that first class and was part of a group that made an
award winning film Seeing Through the Lens. I loved the impact the film had on
these students, giving them the power to tell their stories to the world. Our
director, Garrett Zevgetis, was a volunteer at Perkins who at that time was
making a short film about the impact of Helen Keller on current Perkins
students.
After seeing an
early cut, my recommendation was to focus the film on Michelle as a “modern day
Helen Keller”. Garrett filmed Michelle - it was a 20 minute short that became a
feature film and now here we are with a premiere at SXSW.
XG: Let’s talk about
Michelle Smith. She is legally blind, on the autism spectrum and lives in rural
Maine - with those details she seems plucked from a Stephen King novel. She’s
bound to win over many fans and hearts. Tell me what it was like working with
her and do you see any of yourself in Michelle?
KB: Michelle is an
inspiration to me. She could roll over and be a victim of her disability,
instead she embraces it and challenges the rest of us to step out of our
comfort zone and be open to different people and life styles, “unlearning
normal” as Michelle says. Everyone falls for Michelle because she draws you in,
makes a connection, but sometimes, can really shock you. Pity is not what she
seeks, it is not in her vocabulary.
XG: Michelle’s
“provocative fringe community”- how much can you tell us about it? Did her
participation in this community make you squirm?
KB: It is pretty
universal that your teens through your twenties is a time of exploration and
experimentation, which includes sexuality. When I first became aware of
Michelle in this community, I was concerned about her safety first and
foremost, but also was afraid the audience would judge and define her by this
one aspect of her life. I was her teacher and I felt responsible. Michelle made
me aware that I knew nothing about this world and that my fears were being
generated by simply being uninformed. Through Michelle I became informed and my
concerns went away after seeing the positive impact the community was making on
Michelle’s self esteem and life. It still makes me squirm a little, but I’m
getting there.
XG: Do you have a
favorite scene in the film?
KB: I have two. The
first is when Michelle goes to watch her brother play in a basketball game. I
think our editors Jeff Consiglio and Sarah Ginsburg did an incredible job of
putting the audience squarely in Michelle’s shoes. The second is when Michelle
goes swimming with her boyfriend at an indoor pool on a winter
night. The two of them alone, Michelle exhibiting wit and
self-confidence, you forget that she is blind and all the challenges she is
facing. Instead, you just get to sit back and enjoy two young people playing
together in love.
XG: You are
established in Hollywood as a TV comedy producer. So what is it like for you to
step into the world of documentary film producing? And what have you learned
about producing documentaries from Best and Most Beautiful Things?
KB: On one hand,
it’s all storytelling, whether it’s an episode of Friends or someone’s life,
telling that story is the key. Who Ordered Tax was about my dad Jackie, I knew
that story well. To get Michelle’s story right took many years of patience to
allow it to unfold. I wanted to pull the plug several times. But, the
incredible team of filmmakers that I got to work with convinced me to keep
going. This film really belongs to them, Garrett (director/producer), Jeff and
Sarah (editors), and producers Ariana Garfinkel, Jeff Consiglio, and Jordan
Salvatoriello. I am very proud of this collaboration, especially because three
fellow Emerson College Alumni worked on it with me, which brought it all full
circle.