Abstract:

Amaurosis is an experimental documentary about Nguyen Duc Dat, a blind guitarist living in Little Saigon, Orange County, California. Dat was a “triple outcast”: blind, Amerasian and an impoverished orphan. amaurosis is a media work about an individual in a community seldom represented. Beyond their disabilities, this community of Vietnamese-Americans is oppressed on many levels: language and cultural differences, immigrant and lower income status, and societal misunderstanding and alienation. The tape strives to present the life of one member from this unique community and promote his rich contributions.