An English-language film adaptation of Blindness was directed by Fernando Meirelles. Filming began in July 2007 and stars Mark Ruffalo as the doctor and Julianne Moore as the doctor's wife. The film opened the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.[3]
In 2007 the Drama Desk Award Winning Godlight Theatre Company[4] staged the New York City theatrical premiere of Blindness at 59E59 Theaters.[5] This stage version was adapted and directed by Joe Tantalo. The First Blind Man was played by Mike Roche.[6][7]
An outdoor performance adaptation by the Polish group Teatr KTO, was first presented in June 2010. It has since been performed at a number of venues, including the Old College Quad of the University of Edinburgh during the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Shortly before his death, Saramago gave German composer Anno Schreier the rights to compose an opera based on the novel. The libretto is written in German by Kerstin Maria Pöhler. Like the German translation of the novel, the opera's title is "Die Stadt der Blinden". It saw its first performance on November 12, 2011 at the Zurich Opera House.
In August 2020, the Donmar Warehouse produced a socially-distanced sound installation based on the novel. BLINDNESS was adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Walter Meierjohann. Juliet Stevenson voiced the Doctor's Wife.[8]
