About
The Envisionaries
The most popular sport in the world is soccer (or fútbol/football as the world knows it). The United States, as ever late to the party when it comes to football, has yet to field a Blind Football team in the Paralympics but is looking forward to the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics for the debut of the US national team. We hope that our film will build interest in this sport and in para athletes in the United States and around the world.
We began pre-production in the fall of 2019 with a trip to the Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru and, after being sidelined by Covid, we are back in action!
We traveled in the summer of 2023 to the IBSA World Games in Birmingham, England (the largest gathering of blind athletes in the world) where we captured great match footage of 8 women’s teams and were present for the first ever women’s world championship final! We also filmed the 16-team tournament of men’s blind football where Argentina, Columbia and Brazil qualified for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
In November 2023, we attended the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile where Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico and Peru competed.
Throughout 2024, our crew will be visiting and filming players in their home countries as they prepare for the 2024 Paris Paralympics where the following mens's teams will compete for medals: Argentina, Brazil, China, Columbia, France, Japan, Morocco and Turkey.
We will release the film in 2025 as a lead up to the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics when the U.S. fields its first Blind Football Team.
How does blind football work?
There are bells in the ball and the audience has to remain silent during play. Each team has a sighted goalie, a coach on the side of the field and a guide behind the goal who shout out directions to the players. Each team has five players on the pitch, including the goalie. Read more about blind football.
This film is being produced by Graham Street Productions. The mission of Graham Street Productions is to create socially relevant documentaries, books and exhibits to educate, inspire and mobilize audiences. We believe that art has the power to change hearts and minds, that there are important stories waiting to be told and that we all have the power to make a difference. We work with and support young and emerging artists and partner with a wide variety of advocates for social justice. Read more about Graham Street Productions projects here.
In the Press
“Bells of Hope: American director preparing documentary about blind soccer players. Documentary filmmaker Anne Galisky landed in Santiago to capture the essence of the discipline, within the framework of the Parapan American Games. Here she tells us how she has immersed herself in the culture of this fascinating sport and in the community of visually impaired athletes.”