Interesting profile doc, but overlong and not wholly engaging

Daniel Kish lost his sight as an infant. This film follows him as he uses, and teaches, his method of navigating in his dark world by using sound – specifically clicking his tongue to 'see' the world around him as defined by the audial response of the environment.

This film falls into a pretty crowded market of 'unusual individuals profile documentary short'; a skim through Vimeo on any given day shows we are not short of these. Within these films there is always the challenge of the hook, and to make the viewer care as the story goes on – we all know colorful characters with interesting stories, but not all these people make for interesting subjects for your short film. With Kish that hook is partly the use of sound to help see, but it is also Daniel Kish himself – who is quite an interesting character with his positive vision on his life (pardon the pun). The echo-location aspect is harder to connect to, since it is so foreign to me, but the film does have a good stab at helping the viewer come inside – by using visual effects on the display, but also by following Daniel teaching a young student.

It is not quite fascinating enough to justify the running time though – but it is still a solid short film even if it feels longer than it can stand, and is not wholly engaging once you get beyond the admittedly interesting surface.

The biography, or "biopic", is a genre that portrays the life story of a real person, often a notable individual or historical figure. They aim to provide a depiction of the subject's personal history, achievements, challenges, and impact on society.

Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangadi, and Geraldine James in Gandhi (1982)

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

'KISH' tells the story of a blind man who taught himself to see with sound in order to survive in a visual world.

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