Out Of The Darkness - a documentary by Stefano Levi

Media release - The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ
9 March 2011

Out Of The Darkness - a documentary by Stefano Levi

An award winning documentary featuring Fred Hollows' great friend and dedicated humanitarian, Dr Sanduk Ruit of Nepal, features at the Documentary Edge Film festival in Wellington this month.

The inspiring documentary follows Dr Ruit, his American colleague Dr Geoff Tabin and their team as they trek to remote villages in Nepal carrying an entire hospital on porters’ backs to provide low-cost procedures to restore eyesight.

First-time filmmaker and director Stefano Levi accompanies the men as they humbly go about bringing hope and light to those who don’t have any in the most difficult of conditions. The Italian director first met Dr Ruit on 2007 after he photographed an eye health outreach near Kathmandu. In 2009, Levi had moved into filmmaking when Dr Ruit contacted him again.

“He said, “ Stefano we are going to a place high in the mountains and you can’t miss it.”

Levi scrambled to get a crew and funding together and the result is a documentary that is breathtaking both in its cinematography and in the remarkable transformation that the sight restoring surgery makes to people’s lives.

Out of the Darkness has been selected to be screened at the ECU - European Independent Film Festival. Among the 78 independent Films selected from all over Europe, only six documentaries were chosen.

The Wellington screenings begin on March 10 at City Gallery Wellington 2pm) and then at the Angelika Reading Cinemas Courtenay on March 19 (12.15pm and March 25 (5:30pm)

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