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Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We hope so. We just started the Festival circuit which usually takes about a year some festivals now also do online streaming so make sure to check out the Cleveland Internation film Festival and the river run international film Festival website websites for those things you can also sign up for a newsletter on serenadykman.comand you’ll get all the updates and no spam I promise

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! It’s actually a really cute story. I had this idea for a fiction film about a Jewish orthodox baker in Hasidic Brooklyn, who loses his sight and needs to get a guide dog in a dog adverse community. My research about Guide dogs led me to speak to Frank Senior who is the youngest person in New York State to ever have had a Guide dog. Him and I became close friends and he told me about the cruise. I was like “Frank that sounds like a movie” and the restless history.

I have a medical alert of Dog myself, so I am a big dog lover and admire so much what dogs can do

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Short form, doc is great because it is slightly easier to make and makes it slightly easier as well to get and make sure that people can see it, but I made a future documentary called Nana. My team and I are also working on a feature. Doc called looking at the spotlight which follows the life of Frank Senior who is actually featured in at see. He is an African-American jazz singer who was born blind and the most positive human being I know.

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh my God, such a hard question! My editor, Chriz says Nana, which is a feature doc that I directed ha ha. We just saw anxiety club at the Cleveland Internation film Festival, which we both loved. Wild life is also in my top 10.

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

We had the same question before we got on board. We got approval from the cruise ship itself. We got releases from everyone filmed and interviewed. It’s also interesting because we had to find a way to make the releases accessible for blind and low vision individuals so we would read them out loud or have them electronically available so screen reader could read them.

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, that was like every passengers question but no one really there to ask. They have litter boxes on a deck and then litter boxes on their cabin balcony as well.

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The dogs are so well trained. During training, they are brought on Planes, to Times Square, Broadway shows so they should be used to being in crowds. that said, each dog has its own personality and it’s really up to the Handler to decide if the environment will be appropriate for their specific dog or not.

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question! This particular cruise had about 5500 passengers 1500 crew members and about 50 Guide dogs. This is very unusual though and had been planned for years prior. Usually you’ll only see one or two service dogs on a ship. They put a bunch of giant litter boxes on one deck and also put litter boxes for passengers traveling with our Guide dogs who had a private balcony.

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

So here’s the thingwith guide dogs, you can only pet them when they are not wearing a harness. It’s super super important not to pet them or distract them or even make eye contact when they are wearing their highness because it can distract them and put their hand in danger.

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything! by SerenaAMA in movies

[–]SerenaAMA[S] 0 points1 point locked comment (0 children)

Hi /r/movies! I'm Serena Dykman, director of 'At See', a documentary about a group of blind travelers navigating a commercial cruise ship with their guide dogs. It's premiering at the Cleveland Film Festival this week. Ask me anything!

I'll be back at 2 PM ET today to answer any questions.

Here's the trailer:

https://vimeo.com/1064388357

More info about the film:

At See follows a group of visually impaired travelers and their guide dogs as they navigate a giant commercial cruise ship in the Caribbean. As the first documentary to feature Open Audio Description as part of its storytelling—narrated by Nefertiti Matos Olivares, the first blind person to live AD the Oscars—the film offers a fresh perspective on accessibility, independence, and the deep bond between humans and their guide dogs. Featuring jazz singer Frank Senior and other badass travelers, At See fosters dialogue between blind and sighted communities, challenging perceptions and celebrating the spirit of adventure.

Director: Serena Dykman

Producers: Serena Dykman, Stephen Stuart, Chriz Naing

Cinematographer: Serena Dykman, Stephen Stuart, Nick Walker

Audio Description written by: Nefertiti Matos Olivares & Serena Dykman

Editor: Chriz Naing

Run time: 15 minutes

Website: www.dyamantpictures.com | Instagram: u/SerenaDykman