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!
Those glasses are killer. Too bad Kayne spoiled the fun.
Joel: It struck me as a little odd that someone was wearing sunglasses on an assembly line but I just thought “eh, it must be a French thing.”