Pretty Old
When 30 women aged 67 - 84 from across America and around the world descend on Fall River, Massachusetts to compete in the 30th anniversary Ms. Senior Sweetheart Pageant, hilarity and heartbreak ensue.
When old age imposes physical and sometimes mental decay, is there a way to maintain a hopeful attitude towards life and its mysteries? This is the question that the documentary 'Le vieil âge et l'espérance' project aims to confront not only specialists such as geriatricians, gerontologists, psychologists and philosophers, but first and foremost the lived experience of the elderly.
When 30 women aged 67 - 84 from across America and around the world descend on Fall River, Massachusetts to compete in the 30th anniversary Ms. Senior Sweetheart Pageant, hilarity and heartbreak ensue.
A year in the life of the Palm Springs Follies, featuring beautiful, ageless performers from around the world in a show that is always Standing Room Only. The film intercuts colorful interviews with the participants and footage of auditions, rehearsals, and the actual performances.
At the east of Mexico City, three people have decided to break the stereotypes set by society and build a new reality; where love, solidarity and dance are the axes.
Twelve strangers share their feelings of isolation, grasp of reality and eventual hope.
Intimate portrait of four 70-year-old Quebec snowbirds who migrate every winter to Florida in search of sun, warmth and companionship. Behind their quest for love lies a desire to take advantage of this second and ultimate youth that comes with retirement.
Three juxtaposing stories taking place in Portugal, Austria and Cuba create an intimate and poetic portrait of the daily lives and struggles of the elderly in an unstable world, seen through the eyes of their grandchildren.
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At the Covenant House, located on the outskirts of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana, the doors never close, and there is always room for one more. On any given day, a constant stream of young people carrying everything they own in plastic garbage bags fills the courtyard. The prospective residents are just teenagers, but have already been labeled drug addicts, schizophrenics, criminals and outcasts. As one staff member puts it, “the most damaged population of youth that exists in society today”. Filming over the course of a full year, brothers Brent and Craig Renaud tell the raw and emotional stories of the incredible kids who seek shelter at the Covenant House, and the staff struggling to work miracles everyday on their behalf.
Shelley is a timid elderly lady who is competing in the Miss Senior USA pageant. Immersion in an extravagant world that also touches on the universal need for visibility, beauty and being included.
Hidden away at the end of Mulholland Drive, just north of Los Angeles, lies the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Its residents were once the backbone of American showbiz. The Fund gives them a home and new meaning in their old age. Still going strong in their own studio, they produce short films and pursue other creative projects. This documentary follows one such project from the first brainstorming session all the way to the premiere, revealing enduring dreams and hopes beyond the limelight — and lessons in life and love.
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An inspiring documentary about overcoming homelessness and addiction in the City of Los Angeles.
Documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for the Young at Heart Chorus in Northampton, MA, and many of whom must overcome health adversities to participate. Their music goes against the stereotype of their age group. Although they have toured Europe and sang for royalty, this account focuses on preparing new songs for a concert in their hometown.
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A light-hearted yet deeply moving portrait of the Asian- and Jewish-American women who play this centuries-old Chinese game, shedding light on the common and uncommon experiences of the players that simultaneously define and transcend cultural boundaries. Along the way, it proves again and again to be a bridge connecting seemingly unlike individuals, spanning generations, continents and cultures, and transcending classification as merely a game.
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A Ghanaian maintenance technician at a Virginia retirement community dreams of becoming an American citizen to provide a better life for his family. With their future at stake, he enlists the help of two elderly residents to prepare for the biggest test of his life: the US Citizenship exam.
Lola lives in a public nursing home where everything is shared: the clothes, the showers, the only coffin and the endings. Her only personal belonging is the memory of her two great loves: her mother and husband. Thanks to them Lola has something to do every day, going to the main door’s window to check on her husband who lives across the street and to the phone, where she tries to call her mother. Both died long ago, but they are Lola’s only strength to reach her end in a world that, otherwise, is very impersonal for her.
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“An Untitled Film” by George Alshevskij-Jones is a short documentary/visual essay about the struggles of moving to seek a better future in a different country. The research for the film was done by observing and talking to people who have left their home country. It doesn’t matter what country a person has left and in which country he has found himself, the general experiences and emotions stay the same. The most important message that I want the film to convey is that everything is possible and home is not a place on a map, but a place in the soul of each person that I spoke to. The unconventional way of showing many people as one is not just a way of making the film more convenient to create, but a way to fit a much information into one consistent image, that the audience is more likely to understand and perceive as the author intended it. My own experience blended in with the experiences of others.