By far, Brailled It is the most immersive and heartwarming documentary I’ve watched to date. For the first time, blind and low-vision kids take control of the cameras. The result is an intimate account of their experiences at the annual Braille Challenge. (A competition for blind/low-vision students, grades 1-12, to demonstrate their braille literacy skills through a series of tests.) It is high pressure throughout, but also deeply revealing as a real-life coming-of-age story. Here, these students stand out, not for their disability but for their skill. The film nails it as a triumphant story of the unyielding human spirit.
As is the case with the best documentaries, I love new information as an audience member. I had not heard of the annual Braille Challenge, held annually in Los Angeles. As a result, I not only received an informative lesson from this film, but a wonderful account of three students vying to be recognized for their skill.
The three students range in age. Each of them is talented and comes from a different walk of life. There is Salome from Missouri, who spent three years of her life in an orphanage in the Republic of Georgia. Though she is in high school now, she aspires to become a teacher for the visually impaired or a lawyer.
The second of three is Isaiah, an eleven-year-old from Canada. Born with low vision, he began learning braille in Kindergarten and is the first student from his province to qualify for the competition. Given his favorite sport is hockey, he aspires to become an NHL play-by-play commentator.
And last but not least, there is Christopher—a high school student from Georgia who has attended the competition for twelve years straight. He is preparing for the 2028 Paralympic Games and is training with the National Goalball Team.
Now, all three are accomplished in their own right and lead remarkable lives. But in addition to their aspirations and early accomplishments, all three participated in the direction of this film. By this, I mean the mention of placing cameras in these students’ hands. They are documenting themselves at the competition. The experience is an incredible immersion that not only takes us into the rooms and halls as they prepare and eventually compete, but also educates us as the audience.
In a statement, Christopher expresses hope that the film would be an exploration of what the competition means to the students, not only as an event but also as a means of connection. Students travel from all around the globe to attend the competition, resulting in connections and friendships. Brailled It uses the competition as a framing device, but the story is much bigger than an annual contest. This is about joy and perseverance, and triumph.
All of it is done in a manner that plays like a day in the life of these three students. The visual perspective of putting the cameras in their hands is quite intuitive, but what really sells this immersion is the use of audio descriptions that accompany the film. We are experiencing the world in a way that feels limitless. The fact that the filmmakers are blind adds an important emphasis on the film’s visual language. As a result, sound plays an integral part in this experience, and I felt my senses reorient. I applaud the creative inversion that went into this unique style of filmmaking.
The triumph of the film, from a technical standpoint, is the audience’s ability to engage with and experience the world through the filmmakers’ perspective. It is a literal definition of first-hand experience, and it is deeply engaging and powerful. To tie it back to the competition, which is the source for the gathering and the lynchpin for the documentary, it is a perfect reminder that there should be no barriers to literacy. Brailled It shines more than a light on that fact, but gives us a brilliant manifesto of tenacity, innovation, and power.
Brailled It had its World Premiere in the Unstoppable section of the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival.
Directors: Salome Cummins, Isaiah Gauthier, Christopher Morgan and David Grabias
Rated: NR
Runtime: 73m
The triumph of the film, from a technical standpoint, is the audience's ability to engage with and experience the world through the filmmakers' perspective. It is a literal definition of first-hand experience, and it is deeply engaging and powerful
Writing & podcasting, for the love of movies.
His Letterboxd Favorites: The Dark Knight, Halloween, Jaws & A Christmas Story.
