Climbing Blind – Brit Rock Film Tour 2019 | Jesse Dufton Climbing Blind

“CLIMBING BLIND – the climbing film set for as big an impact as its story. Part of the 2019 Brit Rock Film Tour. A 60 min documentary directed and produced by Alastair Lee, in association with Montane.”

The Brit Rock Film Tour Premiere has been announced! It’s in Sheffield on 24th October 2019 at the Pennine Lecture Theatre, Sheffield Hallam Uni.

Molly and I will be there to introduce ‘Climbing Blind’. You can buy tickets here.

Other locations and tour dates will follow…

To say I’m excited is an understatement! That’s right…for once, Jesse is actually excited!

A picture of Jesse and Molly, both wearing Petzl climbing helmets and Montane jackets. Molly is looking at the camera and Jesse is looking out into the distance. They are wearing coiled ropes on their backs as the approach the crag. — Molly and I out in the mountains on another climbing adventure

Molly and I went to see the Brit Rock film tour in Buxton last year. You may think a blind man going to a film tour is a bit odd…but even though I can’t see the films, I can still hear the stories and Molly gives an audio description of what’s on screen. I might not get the full experience, but that is true for almost everything for me and staying at home would solve nothing. Also, you never know who you might meet and what opportunities may arise. It was a great evening and after the Q&A, Molly took me to see the film maker…Alastair Lee. I had a question for him. I was intrigued how he found the subjects and stories for his films…did he approach climbers with ideas, or was it the other way round? Turns out, it was a bit of both. I couldn’t resist asking, “how about filming a blind guy leading trad?” It was just a throw away comment…I’m not sure he knew what to think or what to say. Ha, well I guess you wouldn’t…

To my surprise, a couple of days later I got a friend request on Facebook from Alastair and a message asking if I wanted to meet up! We met at his local wall to see if I really could climb. I’d like to think it was my amazing climbing that convinced him this project had legs, but in my heart of hearts I know it was a close encounter I had with a traffic cone in the car park that sealed the deal!

A picture of Jesse sat on a rock wearing his red jacket in the centre of the picture. Alastair is squatting to one side of him with his big camera filming an interview. The gritstone crag of Stanage popular is in the background. — A cold day at Stanage, my first time in front of the camera.

The project has been incredibly fun throughout and I think the result is going to be amazing…but you will have to judge that for yourself.

Al has been awesome, we’ve had so many laughs, I’ve met some true British climbing legends and made many friends along the way. I’m hugely grateful that Al took a punt on me! I hope you all enjoy what promises to be a brilliant watch / listen with a host of classic routes that many people can relate to!