“Blind AF” just won the top award — Audience Choice Best of Fest Documentary — at the recent Sedona International Film Festival.
An unflinching, emotionally raw story of courage, transcendence and the healing power of self-belief, “Blind AF” tells the journey of a blind female Paralympic champion and multiple world-record holder, Shawn Cheshire as she becomes the first blind person to ride a single, non-tandem bike across the United States — 3600 miles in 60 straight days — while confronting painful truths about her past that she spent a lifetime trying to outrun.
Driven as much by the determination to live independently as by the restlessness and vulnerability borne of her complex PTSD, Shawn forges a brave – and often dangerous – path through fear that stands as a powerful testament to the human spirit, and an encouragement for all of us to live our most authentic lives, whatever the risks.
While working as a paramedic in 2009, Shawn Cheshire, a 36-year-old Army veteran and single mother of two, suffered a brain injury that left her suddenly and completely without sight. Spiraling into a debilitating suicidal depression, Shawn sought treatment at a VA hospital where, through a combination of adaptive sports and treatment for complex PTSD, she chooses to live in a new reality. Despite her lack of training, within three years Shawn was competing at the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio and would go on to become a 13-time paracycling US National Champion and a multiple world-record holder of extreme adventures. But her biggest challenge was still ahead.
“Blind AF” is at once a thrilling epic of athletic achievement and a transformative portrait of emotional resilience and bravery.
Meet the film’s subject, Shawn Cheshire, in person at select screenings. Dates and details coming soon.