In New York City, a homeless teenager named Tereek is enjoying a late night with his friends. As they go their separate ways, Tereek notices a deaf and blind man named Artie holding a cane and a sign requesting assistance in crossing the street. Tereek hesitantly touches Artie to offer his help, and Artie writes the number of the bus he needs to catch. Tereek guides him to the bus stop and they gradually introduce themselves to one another. Although Tereek receives messages from his girlfriend, who is expecting him, he decides to stay with Artie and make sure he gets on the bus.
Artie tells Tereek that he is thirsty, so they head to a bodega where Tereek uses Artie's money to buy him a drink and himself a candy bar, pocketing $10 in the process. They return to the bus stop but just miss the bus. As they wait, Artie tells Tereek that he was on a date and that he needs to be tapped by the bus driver when he reaches his stop. The bus finally comes and they get on. Tereek tells the driver what Artie needs and the man brusquely agrees to help him. Artie and Tereek assure each other that they will be OK and embrace. When Tereek gets off the bus, he puts the $10 that he took from Artie's wallet into the cup of a sleeping homeless man.
Production
The short film grew from director Doug Roland's encounter with a DeafBlind man in New York City years earlier. The title of Feeling Through is a pun: It is a reference to the DeafBlind community, which is at the heart of the film, as members of that community navigate the world through touch, while the metaphorical meaning refers to the protagonist's personal journey of having to carefully learn how to open his heart without necessarily knowing how to.[2]
Realizing in that one interaction he went from seeing Artemio as his disability to seeing him as a friend inspired Roland to write the story for what eventually became Feeling Through.
"I thought to myself that I had never met anyone who was DeafBlind before, let alone really thought about that community. I tapped him and he took out a notepad and wrote a bus stop that he needed. I took him there, and when we arrived I saw that a bus wasn’t coming for over an hour. I wanted to let him know I’d sit and wait with him, but I didn’t know how to communicate with him. Then, instinctively, I took his palm and started tracing one letter at a time on it, and he understood. We sat together and had a whole conversation that way, and I got to know this man, Artemio, as a funny, charismatic, warm-hearted guy with who I felt like I had made a connection. When his bus arrived, we gave each other a big hug goodbye."
Roland also shot a behind-the-scenes documentary along the way, called Connecting the Dots, which follows the process of casting and working with the DeafBlind actor Robert Tarango, who also works at the kitchen of the Helen Keller Center, as well as their year-long search to find the real life Artemio.[6]
Cast
Steven Prescod as Tereek
Robert Tarango as Artie
Francisco Burgos as Clay
Alestair Shu as J.R.
Javier Rodriguez as Bodega cashier
Coffey as Homeless man
Jose Toro as Sleeping man
Luis Antonio Aponte as Bus driver
Promotion
In addition to the film's festival run, Roland worked with Helen Keller National Center to create a fully accessible screening event called "The Feeling Through Experience", which included the making-of documentary called Connecting the Dots and a panel discussion and Q&A with the DeafBlind community.[2]
