Experiencing Interruptions?

Close your eyes and fly

“Everyone knew it was impossible”. What? That blind people could fly airplanes. Sabrina, sightless from birth, with great perseverance learned to pilot. She takes us to France where she attends a workshop organized by Les Mirauds Volants, the European Association of visually impaired pilots.
This story goes beyond overcoming disabilities, it's about the strength of those who live up to their own dreams: there are no barriers up in the clouds.

  • Julia Pietrangeli
    Director
  • Julia Pietrangeli
    Writer
  • Frida Aimme
    Writer
  • Kyrahm
    Writer
  • Julia Pietrangeli
    Producer
  • Sabrina Papa
    Key Cast
    "herself"
  • Julia Pietrangeli
    Camera and editing
  • Andrea La Scala
    Audio Mix
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Chiudi gli occhi e vola
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    38 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 20, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    France, Italy
  • Language:
    English, French, Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital UHD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 2019 - Italian Golden Globes - Nomination Best Documentary
    Roma
    Italy
    June 18, 2019
    Nomination Best Documentary
  • 2019 - Social World Film Festival - Best Director Documentary
    Vico Equense, Napoli
    Italy
    August 1, 2019
    Best Director Documentary
  • 2019 - II FESTIVAL DE CINE DE DISCAPACIDAD - Winner
    Gipuzkoa
    Spain
    October 25, 2019
    Winner
  • 2019 - XXI Mediterraneo Video Festival - Special Mention
    Ascea (Sa)
    Italy
    September 14, 2019
    Special Mention
  • Matera Art International Film Festival - Special Mention
    Matera
    Italy
    November 20, 2021
    Special Mention
  • 2019 - Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival - Finalist
    Cincinnati
    United States
    October 3, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 - Premio Libero Bizzarri - Official Selection
    San Benedetto del Tronto
    Italy
    November 12, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 - Indaco Film Festival - Official Selection
    Roma
    Italy
    November 15, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 - XI Festival internacional de cine sobre la discapacidad, FECIDISCOVI
    Madrid
    Spain
    November 26, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 - Assim Vivemos - Brazil's International Disability Film Festival - official selection
    Rio De Janeiro, Brasilia, Sao Paulo
    Brazil
    November 1, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 FIC Festival Internacional de Cine de Gàldar
    Gran Canaria
    Spain
    October 12, 2019
    Official Selections
  • 2019 - Girona International Film Festival - Official Selection
    Girona
    Spain
    September 24, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 - European Film Festival Integration You and Me - official selection
    Koszalin
    Poland
    September 4, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 CineGlobe CERN Genevre - Official Selection
    Geneve
    Switzerland
    Official Selection
  • 2019 FilmStrip International Film Festival - Official Selection
    Iasi
    Romania
    Official Selection
  • Human Rights Film Festival - Official Selection
    Roma
    Italy
    September 4, 2021
    Official Selection
  • 2019 COURAGE Film Festival - Semi Finalist
    Berlin
    Germany
    Semi-Finalist
  • 2019 Vision du Réel - Industry Media Library
    Nyon
    Switzerland
    Industry Media Library Selection
  • 2019 - MACRO Museo Arte Contemporanea di Roma
    Roma
    Italy
    September 15, 2019
    Special Event
  • 2019 - Bozen Filmclub - Female Views
    Bolzano
    Italy
    October 16, 2019
    Special Event
  • 2019 - The International Film Festival «Catharsis» - Semi Finalist

    Russian Federation
    Semi Finalist
  • 2019 - Rome Independent Prisma Awards
    Rome
    Italy
    Official Selection
  • 2019 Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival - Official Selection
    Mumbai
    India
    February 24, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 - Cinema Generazionale
    ROma
    Italy
    October 6, 2019
    Official Selection
  • 2019 - UICI Unione Ciechi
    roma
    Italy
    November 8, 2019
    Special Event
Director Biography - Julia Pietrangeli

Julia Pietrangeli is a filmmaker, video artist and performance artist (known as Julius Kaiser) based in Rome. With expertise in the fields of visual and performance art, video art, film and activism. Her interest lies on the social function of the artist, existential dynamics, the role of identity, and the experimentation along mental and physical limits and gender roles. She is co-founder of the project Human Installations, comprising of contemporary art, performance art, live art and avant-garde theatre. In a constant dialogue with cinema, she creates works of video art, documentaries and films.

______________________________________
Obsolescenza del Genere
Role: co-screenwriter, co-director, co-editor, performer
Exhibitions - screenings:
Best Performance International Laguna Art Prize (Venezia, Ita) 2010
Best Video Arcipelago Film Festival (Roma, Ita) 2015
Aesthetica Short Film Festival (BAFTA recognized) UK 2016
Venice International Performance Art Week (Venezia) 2016
Museo Arte Contemporanea di Roma (Ita) 2013
Florence Queer Festival (Ita) 2011

Il Maestro del Mare
Role: screenwriter, director, editor
Exhibitions - screenings:
Best Video Corto Acquario Festival (Roma, Ita) 2012
Menzione speciale Premio Chiara Baldassarri (Pisa, Ita) 2012

Drag King, il sogno di Julia
Role: Co-screenwriter, actor/performer
Exhibitions – screenings:
Santo Domingo OUTFEST (Dominican Republic) 2017
Venice International Performance Art Week (Venezia) 2016
QueerFilmFest Rostock (Germany) 2016
Ibiza Cinefest (Spain) 2016
La Otra Banqueta Film Festival (Guatemala) 2016
Korea Queer Film Festival (Seul) 2016
Sulmona Cinema (Sulmona) 2015
Salento Rainbow Film Festival (Lecce) 2015
Florence Queer Film Festival (Firenze) 2015
Arcipelago Nuove Immagini (Roma) 2015
RIFF AWARDS Rome Indipendent Film Festival 2015
30TGLFF Torino Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2015

(A)mare Conchiglie
Role: co-screenwriter, co-director, cinematographer, co-editor
Exhibitions - screenings:
OtherMovie Lugano Film Festival (Svizzera) 2016
XXXFuoriFestival di Videoarte (Pesaro) 2016
X-24 Festival, XChurch. Gainsborough, (UK) 2016
Venice International Performance Art Week (Venezia) 2016
Università di Rostock (Germania), 2017
Università di Napoli, 2018
"Body in transit" Ministero dell'Economia di Spagna, 2018
Corpo Festival di Arti Performative, Pescara (Ita) 2018
Art Performing Festival, Lecce (Ita) 2018
Live Art Developing Agency (LADA), London (UK) 2019

Oltre il corpo, evoluzioni dal mondo della Performance Art
Role: co-screenwriter, co-director, cinematographer, editor
Exhibitions - screenings:
Venice International Performance Art Week, Venezia (Ita) 2016
Biennale Deformes, Cile 2016
Art Performing Festival, Lecce (Ita) 2018

Odio i saluti
Role: screenwriter director, cinematographer, editor
Exhibitions - screenings:
Festival Internazionale Cinema Omosessuale di Bologna e Milano (Ita)
Torino Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (Torino, Ita)
Festival Cinema Lesbico di Parigi (Francia)
InsideOut Film Festival, Toronto (Canada)
Fameline Film Festival San Francisco (USA)
Aukland TV & Film Festival (Nuova Zelanda)
Long Island Indipendent Film Festival (USA)

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Sabrina always told me about her passion for airplanes and her great dream of flying one. When she was a child she used to say: “I don’t want to be the pilot, I want to be the plane!" Recently she joined a fly club near Rome where she started to fly as passenger on ULM planes and at the same time she started to study aviation. Thanks to a very good instructor-pilot very soon she was piloting in a tandem airplane. When she became aware of “Les Mirauds Volants”, a French association of blind pilots (the only one in the World), she decided to attend an internship in Saint Etienne to improve the fly techniques thanks to a particular instrument called Sound Flyer. This is a sound interface to the monitoring instruments of airplanes that blind pilots can’t normally see.
So I decided to follow her during this trip and I immediately was captured by the great personality of these people. What fascinated me was not only about challenging physical barriers, but their strength to live up to their own desires by ignoring what is told to be impossible to realize, as Patrice, founder of Le Mirauds Volants, reminds us “Everyone knew it was impossible to do, yet a fool - who did not know it was impossible - came along and did It”.
They taught me a great lesson of freedom which is strongly linked to a deep sense of responsibility. Not by chance the French pilot-writer Saint-Exupèry wrote “Eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart” There are no barriers up in the clouds.