Nothing like blind Tibetan children climbing mountains to make you feel bad about your accomplishments

“Blindsight” opens for a 6 day run at the Avalon Theatre today. It documents the journey of six blind Tibetan teenagers who decide to climb Lhakpa Ri, 23,000 feet up Everest. I’ll be checking in out (and reporting back) because this film is of personal interest for a couple reasons. After a tumultuous adventure in the Tibetan settlement in India in the summer of 2006, I was given a book called “My Path Leads to Tibet” written by Sabriye Tenberken. She writes of her experiences as a blind woman in Germany studying Tibetan culture to opening a school for the blind in Lhasa. Upon receiving the book, I thought is was a very thoughtful gesture, but a screwy gift to give someone whose time working with Tibetan refugees was cut significantly short due to illness. I basically shelved the book for over a year out of pure bitterness but I finally gave it a whirl last summer. ANYWAY, back to the movie- “Blindsight” is actually about Sabriye and her students who team up with blind mountain climber, Erik Weihenmayer to climb Lhakpa Ri. Not only an inspiring story (having been to Everest Base Camp, I cannot possibly fathom doing anything other than sitting quietly and trying to breathe), but the landscape will certainly be breathtaking.

The nitty gritty-

Avalon Theatre
Thursday, March 20, 2008 - Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tickets: $9.50
Matinee $6.75
Seniors and Students $6.75
Address: 5612 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Metro: Van Ness/UDC (Red line) then L1 or L2 metrobus to Chevy Chase Circle OR Friendship Heights (Red line) then E series bus to Connecticut Avenue
Phone: 202-966-6000
Email: info@theavalon.org