Partially-sighted Thurso filmmaker struggles against adversity to make it in the movies

A self-taught filmmaker living in Thurso talked about how he is pushing forward to make a career in the movies despite suffering from a severe visual impairment.

Mitchell McKechnie suffers from a condition known as brainstem nystagmus which causes his eyes to move involuntarily and incurs mass vision loss.

"Despite my nystagmus, I have been a keen filmmaker since I was around 10 or 11 years old. I hope to write and direct feature films in the near future, although at the moment I’m trying to get my career started by putting my short films out there," he said.

Mitchell entered a film competition at age 13 which won him the opportunity to have a short screened at the Glasgow Film Theatre before the 2013 feature documentary called We Are the Northern Lights.

"I have sought to teach myself my own filmmaking skills, with little money and only using the resources available to me. These films are made with no budget and are funded out of my own pocket."

Mitchell not only directs his films but acts in them and writes the scripts too. "When I write my films, I see all the scenes in my head to begin with, so when shooting them, it’s only a matter of replicating exactly what I’ve imagined beforehand."

Mitchell says that his disability is a hidden one and believes most people find it hard to understand that he is partially-sighted and how much it affects him. "My nystagmus causes my eyes to move uncontrollably and leaves me with a poor sense of depth perception and incurs fatigue and eye strain. It takes a while for me to adjust my eyes and be able to focus, so unless someone is standing directly in front of me, I don’t recognise who they are at all."

One of his eyes is "practically useless" and everything he sees with it is just a blur. However, when he uses a camera he can see things clearer through the lens. "Life has been hard for me being partially-sighted and filmmaking has been the one thing I found I could do well. I was rejected by the universities, so I need to find another way to realise my dreams," said Mitchell.

"My future plans are to make another short film to build a portfolio and write a few feature-length scripts. I think I have a talent that could be developed given the right help and opportunity. I’m just hoping that someone can help me get that opportunity."

Mitchell's inspirations behind his films are derived from a novelistic approach to writing, mainly in the genre of crime and horror. Character driven plots that move the story along and an outsider point of view help him build a unique vision of the world.

Follow Mitchell on his YouTube channel www.youtube.com/c/MitchellTV99/videos and on Twitter @ChellVaquita

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