Video: Russian School for the Blind

Charles Shopsin is a New York City-raised and Brooklyn-based software developer. In his spare time, he runs the Modern Mechanix blog.

This is a film I saw last year at the Anthology Film Archives in New York. It was part of a series called "Trash-Picking and Eye-Popping: Offbeat Gems from America's Oddest 16MM Collectors."

The film features what appears to be a Russian school for the blind and vision-impaired, although it took me a really long time to figure that out. I'm not sure if the school existed or if this was just some Soviet era propaganda/futurism piece. If anybody wants to translate, please post it in the comments, because I'd love to know.

It looks like a cross between a science museum and a vacation resort. They have all sorts of nifty gadgets to teach the kids astronomy, engineering, anatomy, and, er ... massage. Plus there's a kick-ass computer lab complete with Braille teletypes.

When I found out I was going to be guest blogging here I sent an email to Stephen Parr, owner of Oddball Films+Video asking him if he had a digital version that I might share with the class. He graciously provided me with this. Thanks, Stephen!