The World at Arm´s Length // Documentary // Official Trailer
Channel: CONKERTREE FILM | Documentary Channel
Date: 2019-11-14

film available here: www.conkertreefilm.com

HD | 16:9 | 97 min. | english subtitles

The deafblind Sven has decided to go with the help of his assistants the 800km long Way of St. James. He wants to prove it to everyone, but Sven quickly comes to his physical and psychological limits. A bitter struggle for power, control and self-determination begins ...

Synopsis Sven has dream. A dream that one time in his life he will walk the Camino de Santiago - but this seems almost impossible. Sven suffers from Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which causes severe hearing loss and visual impairment.  He lacks both of his primary remote senses – he is hard of hearing and since 2010 completely blind.
Although Sven can communicate verbally with the use of a special hearing aid, it does not filter or distinguish the sounds and so is only useful when his environment is totally silent.
Sven communicates mainly by making tactile gestures, forming words and letters, with his hands. He is perpetually reliant on the help of his specially trained assistants and must trust them unconditionally. Although he is their “boss”, he cannot assess his situation for himself. They are his eyes and ears. They guide him, describe his surroundings and translate every communication with the outside world for him.
There are only around 50 trained Deafblind assistants in Germany.
When Sven’s assistant, Almuth, heard about his dream to walk the Camino, she offered to accompany him for the 800 kilometres. Sven could hardly believe it. Immediately he began to prepare for what would be the journey of a lifetime.
Together with Almuth, Sven thoroughly planned his journey for two years. Seven assistants will alternate the responsibility of accompanying Sven over the course of six weeks. Some of the women he has worked with – the others he barely knows.
In the middle of April, the journey finally begins, but after only a few days in the strange environment Sven begins to behave aggressively. The mood turns sour. Documenting the frustrating fight between Sven and his companions, filmmaker Susanne Bohlmann accompanies the group for six weeks through Spain. They want to help but are attacked and pushed away by Sven. The demons of his past and his disability come to the surface and turn Sven’s dream into a nightmare for everyone.
Furthermore, Sven's physical condition is deteriorating. His knees can no longer withstand the unfamiliar terrain. Sven must go to the hospital and interrupt his walk for several days. Every day he feels more and more imprisoned and isolated. The Camino disappears under his feet. Now the only thing that matters is how far is left to go and every step is torture. One by one, the assistants change and go home with a feeling of failure and helplessness. Sven's Camino is not at all the heroic journey the director had hoped for, yet it gives an intimate glimpse into the world of a deafblind, reflecting our desire for freedom, independence and self-determination.