THE INVISIBLE SWORD

LA SPADA INVISIBILE

By Massimiliano COCOZZA

DOC SERVICE SRL - as PROD

Documentary - Development 2013

A documentary investigating the experience, the emotion and the processing of the images in the dreams of the visually impaired.

    • Year of production
    • 2013
    • Genres
    • Documentary
    • Countries
    • ITALY
    • Languages
    • ITALIAN
    • Budget
    • 0 - 0.3 M$
    • Director(s)
    • Massimiliano COCOZZA
    • Writer(s)
    • Massimiliano COCOZZA
    • Producer(s)
    • Massimiliano COCOZZA (FCM), Mario CHEMELLO (IMAGO ORBIS)
    • Synopsis
    • Research carried out at the Sleep Laboratory of Lisbon University has shown that the dreams of the visually impaired are identical to ours.
      They too dream of subjects in colours and in movement, human figures, natural landscapes.
      According to the results of the research, the dreams of the blind are filled with the same visual content as those of people who can see.
      Up till now it was believed that the blind did not have the same visual imagery as seeing persons in their dreams.
      The scientific literature available on this subject is limited to analyses of a psychological nature to explain certain similarities.
      Instead, thanks to the measurement of the quantity and quality of dream activity, this new research has shown that people with congenital blindness are able to see images in their dreams without ever having seen them, and the visual contents are the same as those of people who can see.
      This triggers a fascinating question: if people with congenital blindness dream of people, landscapes, clouds, colours without ever having seen them, where do these images come from?
      It is still too soon to be able to give a scientific reply. At the moment there are two main hypotheses.
      The first hypothesis presupposes that the images in blind people’s dreams may be generated from the integration of elements of their life experience with the activity of the visual cortex.
      The second hypothesis presupposes that the human being genetically disposes of a data bank of images, used to preserve the species.
      This second hypothesis is confirmed by research conducted on the dreams of foetuses in the mother’s womb.
      The results of the research of the Portuguese team have been published in the most authoritative scientific journal in the sector, the British “Cognitive Brain Research” and have been rewarded by the European Sleep and Research Society.
    • Partners & financing
    • International co-production from companies interested in the Health and Social environment.
    • Production schedule
    • Up to Fall 2012 research and scouting for characters by the Author/Director, within Spring 2013 development steps and fundraising, in Fall 2013 preproduction and shooting
    • Beginning of shooting
    • Sep 01, 2013