An Irish scientist with an international message
Professor John Nolan filming A Vision for Vision at SETU
A new documentary following Waterford-based scientist Professor John Nolan and his more than 20-year exploration of nutrition, vision and brain health will hold its Irish premiere at Dublin’s Light House Cinema this Thursday, September 24.
Directed and produced by two-time Emmy Award winner Wayne Chesler, A Vision for Vision takes the science out of the laboratory and into the world, exploring what Professor Nolan describes as an "overlooked universe"; the complex relationship between nutrition, the eye and the brain.
"Over about two and half years I travelled the world with Wayne and his film team to create the film," Professor Nolan told the Waterford News & Star, "which is a story about how we can use what nature provides, from marigolds in Mexico to the fish in the ocean in Norway, and how the nutrients from those foods are crucially important to these diseases."
"So I go on a journey with a scientific message," he continued, "but communicate to everyday people about what they can do and why there's hope, and why we should use nutrition in a preventative way more so than being reactive when people have sick eyes or a sick brain."
Professor Nolan’s work began with eye health and has since expanded into the eye-brain connection, cognition, Alzheimer’s disease and healthy ageing.
A Fulbright Scholar and full Professor at SETU, he is Founder and Director of the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland and has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
For Chesler, the film also has a personal dimension as his interest in brain health was shaped by caring for his mother, who lived with dementia.
That experience, he said, informed his work and collaboration with Professor Nolan.
The documentary aims to make Nolan’s science accessible to a wider audience, "I'm an Irish scientist," he said, "but it's an international story."
Following its Irish premiere at the Light House Cinema this Thursday, September 24, A Vision for Vision will continue its international rollout, with screenings in the United States and Mexico next month and further plans to bring the documentary to audiences worldwide.
The film is expected to hit a major streaming platform before Christmastime, Professor Nolan told this newspaper, with a release date yet to be confirmed.
Audiences can watch the trailer and find details of forthcoming screenings, international releases and viewing opportunities to be announced at profjohnnolan.com/a-vision-for-vision.
