John Fawcett’s life has been full of ‘impossibles’. In 1983, after a medical accident, he was pronounced clinically dead… twice. He finally woke up with a bout of amnesia, was given a week to live… ignored this deadline and consequently lost his job, his life, his family and a wife he couldn’t recognize. Just when things looked like they couldn’t get any worst, he went blind.

But this potter from Perth’s greatest challenge still lay before him. After miraculously recovering from all these ailments, including the full recovery of his memory and his sight, he was asked by the Governor of Bali to help nurse an ailing Indonesia, back to health.

Filmed, observationally over four years, God Made Them Blind is the story of John Fawcett’s seemingly impossible mission to reduce the phenomenal number of cataract blind people in Indonesia. It’s a story about faith, tenacity, the clash of cultures and personal transformation. Our Australian hero faces many challenges along the way, but ironically the most resistance will come from the very people he is trying to help. Slowly but surely this gentle man coaxes a fearful population to understand that the Hindu rules of Karma and the miracle of modern medicine can co-exist on the Island of the Gods.

Festivals & Awards

Official Selection: Cambridge, Sun Valley, Hamburg