THE VIDEO
In Love At Second Sight, lively middle schoolers are transformed by a performance that challenges and changes their perceptions about appearance and acceptance.
WHY THIS FILM IS IMPORTANT
For people of all ages, feelings about personal appearance shape our self-image and affect how we relate to others. Love At Second Sight encourages viewers to take the vital second look that can cut through superficial judgments and establish a deeper sense of what true beauty is.
ABOUT THE VIDEO
With simple honesty and engaging humor, husband and wife David Roche and Marlena Blavin establish a warm, personal connection with students as they share stories from their lives. They confront head-on the issues of appearance and acceptability – concerns that especially affect young people on the verge of puberty.
David encourages everyone to ask in unison ...
“What happened to your face?”
After satisfying their curiosity, he tells stories about his own school days that help the students relate to the experience of feeling different – like the time that 7th grade “cute girl” Patty rudely rejected him during a game of spin the bottle, the embarrassment of showing up at his first boy/girl party in full clown regalia, and what happened when he worked up the courage to ask Marlena for their first kiss (you might be surprised!). David conveys the emotional impact of experiences that brought him joy and pain, while demonstrating empathy for those who reacted to him out of fear or ignorance.
Marlena speaks candidly about hearing David’s voice before she saw his face. She imagined him to be her tall, dark and handsome ideal man. Shocked when she actually saw him, she turned and walked away, but soon followed her heart back to him. Marlena explores her own initial confusion with openness and gentle humor. She models dealing with the judgments of others while not going along with the crowd.
The full impact of the film is enhanced with stunningly beautiful and poignant shots of the reactions of the young people as they change.
The live presentation has won spontaneous standing ovations from students, teachers and parents across the U.S. and Canada. Now it is time to capture this experience on film so that many others can be similarly inspired to look differently at others – and themselves.
