The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

'Locked-in syndrome: paralysed from head to toe, the patient, his mind intact, is imprisoned inside his own body, unable to speak or move. In my case, blinking my left eyelid is my only means of communication.' In December 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor-in-chief of French 'Elle' and the father of two young children, suffered a massive stroke and found himself paralysed and speechless, but entirely conscious, trapped by what doctors call 'locked-in syndrome'. Using his only functioning muscle – his left eyelid – he began dictating this remarkable story, painstakingly spelling it out letter by letter.

When Lu Spinney's 29-year-old son, Miles, flies up on his snowboard, "he knows he is not in control as he is taken by force up the ramp," writes his mother, "skewing sideways as his board clips the edge and then he is hurtling, spinning up, up into the free blue sky ahead…. " He lands hard on the ice and falls into a coma.

French violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft returns to Carnegie Hall to present his new album Entre Occident et Orient (Evidence Classics/Harmonia Mundi) with the French pianist Guillaume Vincent. Composer Paul Cantelon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Other Boleyn Girl, New York I Love You…) joins Virgil to premiere his new work, dedicated to the violinist.

A Short History of Falling – like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and When Breath Becomes Air – is a searingly beautiful, profound and unforgettable memoir that finds light and even humour in the darkest of places. As I get weaker, less a part of this world, or less a part of what I love, less a part of my family's life, I can perceive its edges with fantastic clarity. I can lie against it, lolling my arm over the edge, running my fingers around the rim. And this is where I am.

From first-time director Olatz López Garmendia, and executive produced by Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Patria O Muerte: Cuba, Fatherland or Death is a visceral look at the current state of Cuba through the eyes of its artists, activists, bloggers, writers, musicians and everyday people, who live amidst political unrest and economic inequality.