A report in a newspaper inspired sports sociologist and documentary filmmaker Ian McDonald to make a film on three Indian blind students who were champions at chess. The documentary titled Algorithms, revolves around Anant, Sai Krishna and Darpan as they prepare for the world chess championship in Greece. On his experience about making this rather unusual film, the director says,
The real challenge for me as a filmmaker was not to reduce the players to simply being defined by their blindness. There were lots and lots of blind and visually impaired adults and youth players, and the curiosity with which I had started the film turned into amazement.
- Ian McDonald
Shot in black & white, the 96-minute long documentary has already been screened at festivals around the world and won multiple awards in Paris, Moscow, Durban and Edinburgh. The filmmaker is happy that his endeavour has been appreciated, “My aim has been to raise larger issues about power, equality and identity through the lens of a sports film. The subject of blind chess struck a chord with me at multiple levels; it was about sports as well as about a marginalised world and children”, says Ian.
Algorithms is scheduled to release in India on Aug 21, 2015. You can catch the trailer here:
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