Amy Guggenheim

When a gifted young musician begins to lose the ability to trust her own perception, she must come to terms with the past that has been driving her life before she loses the music—and the future—she has been fighting for.

At its heart, Blindsight is about the ways we learn to survive by avoiding what we cannot bear to feel. The stories we live by quietly shape what we notice, what we ignore, the futures we imagine as possible, and where we believe we belong. Blindsight explores what can happen when our familiar way of seeing the world begins to change.

Writer/Director

CURRENT PROJECTS

BLINDSIGHT‍ (in development)

HOLDING THE CENTER

Someone changes when two beings meet.

Set in New York and Tokyo. Three lives. Entangled. A fourth presence. Not human. A dramatic feature film inspired by Kendo - a Japanese martial art based on relationship, and the space between us.

BIO - AMY GUGGENHEIM

Amy Guggenheim is a writer and director whose work explores perception, awareness, and human relationships. A recipient of a 2022 New York State Council on the Arts Artist Fellowship, her award-winning short Blindsight is now being developed as a feature. She is also developing Holding the Center, inspired by her twenty-five years of practicing kendo. Her work has been described as "hauntingly poetic" and seeks to reveal our capacity for insight, empathy, and meaningful connection. She leads the Vision Room, an interdisciplinary space for creative practice at Pratt Institute.

SELECTED SUPPORT

Fellowships and Grants:

Fulbright Fellowship

American Embassy Travel Specialist

Asian Cultural Council Fellowship

New York State Council on the Arts Film/Video Grant

The Banff Center on the Arts and Creativity

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Puffin Foundation

Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York Foundation

Pano Network Post Production Grant

NYWIFT Featured Special Project

REVIEWS AND RECOGNITION

Festivals and Awards

  • Anthology Film Archives

  • Centre Pompidou

  • São Paulo Museum of Modern Art

  • Wallachia International Film Festival

  • Selected international screenings in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the United States.

View a complete list of screenings, festivals, and awards at BlindsightFilm.net.

Interviews:

"Cinema has long served as a mirror through which we examine ourselves, our relationships, and the world we inhabit. Few filmmakers explore these questions with the depth and sensitivity of Amy Guggenheim."

PR Carnet
In Conversation with Amy Guggenheim → Read the full interview here:

Filmmaker Amy Guggenheim
The NYWIFT Podcast (New York Women in Film & Television)

Amy Guggenheim discusses adapting her psychological drama Blindsight from a short film into a feature, and her approach to perception, music, and cinematic storytelling.

Listen →

Selected Critical Response:

“Amy demonstrates her exceptional skills as a filmmaker, particularly as a director....This heartwarming exploration of the human condition, centered around the transformative power of self-awareness, is masterfully brought to life.” - Wallachia International Film Festival Jury

In a very short time, Amy Guggenheim leads the audience where she wants them
. A corpse is hardly necessary. Compact. Concentrated. Classy  - The Hannover Times (Germany)

Guggenheim’s work depicts the domestic but the content is universal. Love and death, laughter and sorrow, boredom and anger. We can abandon our skepticism and share her adventurous imagination.  - The News (Mexico City)

Her work plays with how our isolated, fragmented selves discover ways to exist both alone and with others, ultimately leading to freedom and joy. - Nancy David, The Observer (New York)

DIRECTION

Previous Work - Writer/Director

Previous Work - Writer/Director

Blindsight Scene
A glimpse into the feature - a story about memory, love and the limits of perception.

Dawn
A poetic prelude to Holding the Center.

The Snake and the Parrot
A cinematic fable about desire between former lovers.

Amy Guggenheim

WRITER/DIRECTOR

When a gifted young musician begins to lose the ability to trust her own perception, she must come to terms with the past that has been driving her life before she loses the music—and the future—she has been fighting for.

At its heart, Blindsight is about the ways we learn to survive by avoiding what we cannot bear to feel. The stories we live by quietly shape what we notice, what we ignore, the futures we imagine as possible, and where we believe we belong. Blindsight explores what can happen when our familiar way of seeing the world begins to change.

Writer/Director

CURRENT PROJECTS

BLINDSIGHT‍ (in development)

HOLDING THE CENTER

Someone changes when two beings meet.

Set in New York and Tokyo. Three lives. Entangled. A fourth presence. Not human. A dramatic feature film inspired by Kendo - a Japanese martial art based on relationship, and the space between us.

BIO - AMY GUGGENHEIM

Amy Guggenheim is a writer and director whose work explores perception, awareness, and human relationships. A recipient of a 2022 New York State Council on the Arts Artist Fellowship, her award-winning short Blindsight is now being developed as a feature. She is also developing Holding the Center, inspired by her twenty-five years of practicing kendo. Her work has been described as "hauntingly poetic" and seeks to reveal our capacity for insight, empathy, and meaningful connection. She leads the Vision Room, an interdisciplinary space for creative practice at Pratt Institute.

SELECTED SUPPORT

Fellowships and Grants:

Fulbright Fellowship

American Embassy Travel Specialist

Asian Cultural Council Fellowship

New York State Council on the Arts Film/Video Grant

The Banff Center on the Arts and Creativity

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Puffin Foundation

Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York Foundation

Pano Network Post Production Grant

NYWIFT Featured Special Project

REVIEWS AND RECOGNITION

Festivals and Awards

  • Anthology Film Archives

  • Centre Pompidou

  • São Paulo Museum of Modern Art

  • Wallachia International Film Festival

  • Selected international screenings in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the United States.

View a complete list of screenings, festivals, and awards at BlindsightFilm.net.

Interviews:

"Cinema has long served as a mirror through which we examine ourselves, our relationships, and the world we inhabit. Few filmmakers explore these questions with the depth and sensitivity of Amy Guggenheim."

PR Carnet
In Conversation with Amy Guggenheim → Read the full interview here:

Filmmaker Amy Guggenheim
The NYWIFT Podcast (New York Women in Film & Television)

Amy Guggenheim discusses adapting her psychological drama Blindsight from a short film into a feature, and her approach to perception, music, and cinematic storytelling.

Listen →

Selected Critical Response:

“Amy demonstrates her exceptional skills as a filmmaker, particularly as a director....This heartwarming exploration of the human condition, centered around the transformative power of self-awareness, is masterfully brought to life.” - Wallachia International Film Festival Jury

In a very short time, Amy Guggenheim leads the audience where she wants them
. A corpse is hardly necessary. Compact. Concentrated. Classy  - The Hannover Times (Germany)

Guggenheim’s work depicts the domestic but the content is universal. Love and death, laughter and sorrow, boredom and anger. We can abandon our skepticism and share her adventurous imagination.  - The News (Mexico City)

Her work plays with how our isolated, fragmented selves discover ways to exist both alone and with others, ultimately leading to freedom and joy. - Nancy David, The Observer (New York)

DIRECTION

Previous Work - Writer/Director

Previous Work - Writer/Director

Blindsight Scene
A glimpse into the feature - a story about memory, love and the limits of perception.

Research photographs for Holding the Center: kendo and iaidō at Noma Dojo, Japan.

Dawn
A poetic prelude to Holding the Center.

The Snake and the Parrot
A cinematic fable about desire between former lovers.