PremiumBlind Vaysha on ShortsTV: Is living in the present a luxury amidst obsession with the past and anxiety about the future?
Adapted from a short story by Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov, Blind Vaysha is directed by Theodore Ushev
Last Updated: 06.45 PM, May 05, 2024
What if you could look into the future and live in the past that was comforting. Wouldn't that life be sorted? Even Vaysha thought so when she was blessed with the vision to see precisely those two. But what about the present? Have we stopped living in the present while we obsess over the past and worry about the future? The sweet point that is the present, where life is right now, and how we plan to respect that, is a mystery some of us manage to solve while many of us don't. Even Vaysha didn't. Confused about who Vaysha is? Well, you will have to tune into ShortsTV to find out, and you can access it with your OTTplay Premium subscription. For further details, read on.
Blind Vaysha Plot
Adapted from a short story by Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov, Blind Vaysha, directed by Theodore Ushev, is an Oscar-nominated short film that poses a very relevant question. Vaysha, a girl, is born with a boon that is also a curse. She can see only the past from her left eye and only the future from her right eye. The present for her is dark, and as the makers say, it doesn't exist for her. So, with access to the past and the future, all she can think about is what has happened and what will happen, without a taste of what is happening. The irritation makes her decide to pluck out one eye, but which one can she? How will she ever be in the present?
Blind Vaysha Analysis
The power of Theodore Ushev’s short film lies in the fact that it does not view the situation as a prophecy. Yes, people call it a result of black magic, but not Theodore, because you can see he is very clear that this is the reality for a woman who has lived with it all her life. For Vaysha, reality isn't and was never a concept, and that keeps her deprived of everything in the present. She is like a child chasing the future, tied to a pole attached to her body, but she will never be able to reach it. So whenever something comes her way, she only sees the past and the future with no visual of the present.
The simple idea of Ushev’s brilliantly conceptualized short film is that many of us have wasted a lot of our present in the obsession with past nostalgia and the anxiety to see the future. Our feet are in two different places, one each, with our head in the present with closed eyes. We don't care about the moment we are in but are worried about what has happened and what is about to happen. Even when we think of stopping either of the two, what will we do? Will we ever get to live NOW? Ushev tells you how much of a luxury it is to stay in the present, and the short does wonders in that regard.
What also does wonders is the animation style. It is not meant to be a scary film, while a scary thought, is not a scary film. But Ushev makes sure you feel the creeps of Vaysha's situation with his animation style. The man, who is an independent animation master, has experimented multiple times with the format and each time has churned out something very interesting. Blind Vaysha is another film that showcases the heights of his imaginative mind and art.
PS: Blind Vaysha also delves into politics for a bit where the future is chaotic and quite disturbing. It would have been beneficial if a minute or two were spent emphasizing that bit because not many might register the clever Easter egg the filmmaker plants in that very brief moment.
You can watch Blind Vaysha on ShortsTV with your OTTplay Premium subscription. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more information on this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.