Senior Programs | Documentaries

AGING DOCUMENTARIES

"THE RETIREMENT GAMBLE"

Produced by: Frontline PBS.

"If you've been watching any commercial television lately, you are well aware that the financial services industry is very busy running expensive ads imploring us to worry about our retirement futures. Open a new account today, they say. They are not wrong that we should be doing something: America is facing a retirement crisis. One in three Americans has no retirement savings at all. One in two reports that they can't save enough. On top of that, we are living longer, and health care costs, as we all know, are increasing. But, as I found when investigating the retirement planning and mutual funds industries in 'The Retirement Gamble' which airs tonight on FRONTLINE, those advertisements are imploring us to start saving for one simple reason. Retirement is big business - and very profitable."
Martin Smith -pbs.org

Find out more about the Frontline documentary "The Retirement Gamble"

"HUNGRY IN THE WEST END- AN EIGHT PART SERIES ON SENIOR HUNGER"

Produced by: John Martin.
Funded by AARP Foundation Drive to End Hunger.

"…Isolated seniors by definition are difficult to find, that's one of the big takeaways, and people are reluctant to offer themselves up as examples of poverty or hunger. Some people we talked to declined to go on camera but others did, and we learned a lot from people who are feeding the hungry in the West End and other parts of Providence. They all agree on one thing, senior hunger is a problem and it is getting worse."
Video: Hungry in the West End Episode 1: The Growing Problem

" 'Hungry In The West End' is an intimate look at senior hunger in a tough Rhode Island community.”
-aarp.org

Find out more about the documentary "Hungry In The West End- An Eight Part Series On Senior Hunger"

Senior Hunger and Elderly Malnutrition Programs

"LEFTOVERS"

Directed by: Seth Hancock.
Supported by: Meals on Wheels Research Foundation.

"…There are Americans in this county who are 60 years of age and older who are going hungry and this is the richest nation on earth…they don't have the funding to buy the food, buy their medicine, pay their rent and pay their utility bills…they have nothing left over, nothing left over for food…six million seniors going hungry every day is a national disgrace."
-leftoversmovie.com

“ 'Leftovers' is a very important documentary on senior hunger couldn’t have been made without the support of the Meals on Wheels Research Foundation.”
-- leftoversmovie.com

Find out more about the documentary "Leftovers"

Senior Hunger and Elderly Malnutrition Programs

"KINGS POINT"

Produced by: Sari Gilman, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider, HBO Documentary Films.
Directed by: Sari Gilman.

"It is a film that can break through the denial of aging and death that is so pervasive in our culture. As Americans, we are afraid to talk about the reality of what happens in later life, so much emphasis is placed on 'active' retirement, self-reliance, and staying independent."
-kingspointmovie.com

"With Kings Point, director/producer Sari Gilman tells the stories of five seniors living in a typical American retirement resort men and women who came to Florida decades ago with their spouses by their sides and their health intact, and now find themselves grappling with love, loss, and the universal desire for human connection. Shot over the course of 10 years, Kings Point is a bittersweet look at our national obsession with self-reliance, exploring the dynamic tension between living and aging while underscoring society's powerful ambivalence toward growing older."-kingspointmovie.com

"In the 1970s and 80s, hundreds of thousands of senior citizens migrated from New York City to Kings Point, a typical retirement community, located just outside West Palm Beach, Florida. Lured by blue skies, sunshine, palm trees, and the promise of a rich social life, they bought their way to paradise for just a $1,500 down payment. Now, as an aging community faces its own mortality, paradise has begun to exact a higher price. Through the experiences of six longtime residents, 'Kings Point' captures both the allure and the darker complexities of living in a world where 'nobody gets too close.' Poignant, funny and dark, 'Kings Point' is a deeply empathetic portrait of the last act of the American Dream.".-imdb.com

'Kings Point" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short and was the Winner - Grand Jury Prize for both the Sterling Award for Best Short Film along with the Silverdocs Documentary Festival 2012.

Find out more about the HBO documentary "Kings Point"

"THE 100+ CLUB"

Produced by: Margie Brown.
Directed by: Mandy Lake.

"We believe actually the '100+ Club' is the only club of its type in the world today."

"What's the secret to longevity...work hard and don't complain about it."
- The Film: 'The 100+ Club'
ns, 'The 100+ Club,' has

“The world’s only social club for centenarians has some remarkable members on its books. At a time in their lives when most people have long given up on chasing dreams, Ruth, Olive, and Dexter are on a mission to complete some unfinished business. Ruth, the planet’s oldest competing athlete is out to break her own world throwing records, all-round entertainer Olive is determined to stage one last performance, while outback author Dexter hopes to finish his sixth and last book. Most centenarians insist they’re not terribly special ‘age is just a couple of numbers on a piece of paper’ but as 'The 100+ Club' reveals, there’s nothing at all ordinary about this group of Australians.”
source: facebook.com/100plusClubdoco

Find out more about the Documentary "The 100+ Club"

"CUT BACK:FACING AGEISM"

Produced and Directed by: Patricia Sahertian.

"They replaced me with a younger individual."

"It makes you kind of draw back inside of yourself and just start thinking, what am I worth, what is my value. Its brings depression on, it makes life very, very misearable."
- Cut Back, The Film.

" 'Cut Back:Facing Ageism,' brings to light the often subtle and the not so subtle sting of ageism. With her focus on the workforce director Patricia Sahertian takes a look at a diverse group of people across the nation who have been affected by age discrimination. In their own words, they tell their personal story about how ageism has touched their lives. 'I am grateful to the people who agreed to participate in this film. They show an amazing spirit and resilience,' said Sahertian. The stories are interspersed by comments from lawyers, advisors, employment specialist and many more who are trying to make a difference about the effects of ageism."
source:cutbackmovie.com

Find out more about the documentary "Cut Back: Facing Ageism"

"TOO OLD TO WORK"

Produced and Directey by: BBC, Film 4, Dispatches.

"With the number of unemployed in the UK nudging two million, Dispatches reveals the ageism rife amongst employers and recruitment agencies. The investigation reveals that being 'older' - even just over 45-years-old - is a risk in the workplace. Older workers are more likely to lose their jobs and fail to secure another position. The programme looks at the challenges facing older job seekers and how the mandatory retirement age, introduced in 2006, has forced tens of thousands out of their positions, against their will. Dispatches also features the results of two exclusive YouGov surveys on attitudes towards older workers and the effects forced retirement can have on those still wanting to work."
source:www.channel4.com

Click Watch Video Clip of "Too Old to Work"

Find out more about the documentary "Too Old to Work"

"LETS FACE IT: WOMEN EXPLORE THEIR AGING FACES."

Produced and Directey by: Wendy Oser, Joan Levinson, Beverly Spencer.

"Seven articulate women, age 45 to 63, speak openly, honestly and with wry humor on the reality of the sags, bags and wrinkles on their faces while watching themselves on videotape. As they reveal feelings of ambivalence, vanity, and anxiety to each other, their attitudes toward aging move toward acceptance.

Odil is offended by the cultural aesthetic bias against aging. Aspasia notices all the changes that contrast with her inner picture of herself, while Beverley wishes she had appreciated her looks as a young woman. Carole is pleased at the outcome of cosmetic surgery, and Wendy thinks she looks just fine for her age most of the time and her status of grandmother. The women uncover the sources of their assessments: family judgments, comparisons with siblings, teen-age competitiveness, and the unrelenting messages of an advertising/media culture that emphasizes youth as the epitome of beauty. In the same way that young women in the 1970's started to examine their feelings about being female in America, three decades later this same finds that frank talk helps them develop a personal balance at the stage when they are threatened with invisibility. After two years each woman discovers she has developed a personal "philosophy" of how she would like to age. Each one knows her attitudes may change in any direction but all find the process itself is enlightening and full of comfort.

The film serves as a model for individuals and groups as we shift away from acceptance of the culture's emphasis on youth to a broadening of what is an 'attractive woman.' Women are grateful for this help in liberating themselves from the longing to look forever young."
source: amazon.com

Find out more about the documentary "Let's Face It:Women Explore Their Aging Faces"

"TO AGE OR NOT TO AGE."

Produced and Directed by: Robert Kane Pappas.

"The paradigm shift is that aging and death are not the absolutes we once thought they were. Important breakthroughs in cell biology and our understanding of genetic hierarchies suggest that the body can be stimulated to slow down the aging process in an elegant and simple way. It all comes down to keeping our cellular repair mechanisms in working order. That this can be done no longer seems in doubt...The only real question nowadays is 'For how long?' The Human condition, as we know it, is up for grabs – as extended life (and fertility) remap all our notions about human development, success and freedom."
source: toageornottoage.com

Find out more about the documentary "To Age or Not to Age"

"LIFE’S WALTZ "

Produced and Directed by: Jared Scheib and Ashley Michael Karitis.

 

"Through their stories, Betty, Bob, Dorothy, and David show us that old age is nothing to fear—it can be as wonderful as any other time in our lives."

We first meet Betty, who finds joy and purpose in playing the piano, gardening, and making the most of each day as a widow at her retirement community. In the same community, we meet Bob and Dorothy, a married couple with a unique sense of humor about anything from their transition to retirement living, their health decline, and their love for one another. Meanwhile David, living outside a retirement community, claims to be a '25-year-old inside of a 77-year-old’s body.' While commemorating his late wife, he offers a profound perspective on love and loss as we age.”
source:snagfilms.com

Find out more about the documentary "Life's Waltz"

"ACTING OUR AGE"

Produced by: Deanne Edwards, Directed by: Gurinder Chadha.

"This humorous and thought-provoking film documents the residents of a South Asian home for the elderly in Britain. Director Gurinder Chadha assists the residents in directing their own video. The result is an examination of politics, ageism, and cross-cultural communication in contemporary British society. Interview subjects range from people on the street to Members of Parliament. The film ends with the triumphant screening of the group's film."
source:third world newsreel.

Find out more about the documentary "Acting Our Age"

"THE GRAND GENERATION"

Produced by: Marjorie Hunt, Paul Wagner, and Steven Zeitlin - Folkstreams.

"Folklorist Steve Zeitlin comes this warm portrait of six elderly Americans whose vigor belies their age. Three are folk artists, one a baker, one a political activist, and one a bayman on the Chesapeake. Though they remember the past, they still relish the present and life it fully." source: folkstreamer, youtube.

Find out more about the documentary "The Grand Generation"

"GETTING AROUND"

Produced by: Center for Healthy Aging, AAA.

"As our elderly population grows, so does the need to find mobility solutions that work. In response to The 2003 Santa Monica Farmer's Market tragedy, Monika White, CEO of the Santa Monica-based, non-profit Center for Healthy Aging enlisted the award-winning documentary film company Wiland-Bell Productions in a national effort to educate Americans about planning for the day when driving is no longer feasible. The result is the 30-minute documentary "Getting Around—Alternatives for Seniors Who No Longer Drive," and this companion website. Both are dedicated to successfully maintaining elders' mobility---and the safety of all of us---by focusing on when its time to give up the keys, helping at-risk elders transition to life-after-driving, and expanding everyone's travel options through improved public transportation and new models for mobility."
source: getting-around.org

Find out more about the documentary "Getting Around"

"HOW TO LIVE FOREVER"

Produced and Directed by: Mark Wexler.

"Director Mark Wexler embarks on a worldwide trek to investigate just what it means to grow old and what it could mean to really live forever. But whose advice should he take? Does 94-year-old exercise guru Jack LaLanne have all the answers, or does Buster, a 101-year-old chain-smoking, beer-drinking marathoner? What about futurist Ray Kurzweil, a laughter yoga expert, or an elder porn star? Wexler explores the viewpoints of delightfully unusual characters alongside those of health, fitness and life-extension experts in this engaging new documentary, which challenges our notions of youth and aging with comic poignancy. Begun as a study in life-extension, 'How To Live Forever,' evolves into a thought-provoking examination of what truly gives life meaning."
source: liveforevermovie.com

Find out more about the documentary "How to Live Forever"

"THE ART OF AGING"

Produced and Directed by: Leaping Media.

The "Art of Aging" covers three main areas of aging:
Episode 1: Bones and Brains Episode 2: Sexuality, Menopause, Andropause Episode 3: Caregiving, Community, Diabetes.

" A new generation of maturing adults has a chance to learn from poor health practices of the past. Obesity, lack of exercise and mental stagnation have been some of the culprits of unhealthy aging in the recent past. Now, new research promises more effective strategies for aging well. The role of physical activity, maintaining strong bones and engaging in social and intellectual interactions top the to do list for upcoming generations."
source: artofaging.org

Find out more about the documentary "Art of Aging"

"THE ELDERS - A COMING OF AGE DOCUMENTARY PORTRAIT SERIES"

Produced and Directed by: Nathaniel Hansen.

"A feature-length documentary, "The Elders" uses stylized interview portraits of elderly individuals to tell a universal story about life's most important lessons. Thematically organized around life lessons that reflect a wide range of human emotion and experience, the film seeks to reveal a larger more complex portrait of our shared humanity."
source: theeldersfilm.com

Find out more about the documentary "The Elders - A Coming Of Age Documentary Portrait Series"

"AGING WITHOUT CHILDREN - WHO PROVIDES CARE?
MORE AMERICANS AREN'T HAVING CHILDREN, AND MANY WORRY ABOUT ELDER CARE"

Produced and Directed by: Trading Places: Caring for Your Parents Series" NBC News.

Find out more about the NBC documentary series, "Trading Places: Caring for Your Parents"

"AGING IN AMERICA: THE YEARS AHEAD"

Directed by: Julie Winokur

Great Book to Own or Use to Educate!

The director and her photographer, Ed Kashi traveled across America and over seven years collected stories of the country’s elderly and interviewed them about concept of not only aging aging well.

Watch a video clip of the documentary "Aging in America: The Years Ahead"

 

"GROWING OLD"

Produced by: Films Media Group

“Solid, thought-provoking, and frequently poignant.... Raises issues that many citizens and politicians alike are often reluctant to face, but also ones that are becoming too pressing to ignore. Recommended.”—Video Librarian

Most people are unwilling to confront aging—even many seniors live in denial of it. Some fear losing their independence and autonomy, while others simply can’t accept the graying of their hair. This program explores the varied landscape of aging in America, presenting the realities—physical, medical, emotional, and economic—of growing old in a youth-obsessed society. Whether they are well off in retirement, financially marginalized, in good health, or terminally ill, the film’s participants provide moving and provocative commentary and raise several challenging questions. What exactly is the healthy way to grow old? Is age a disease to be battled or a beautiful stage of life to be embraced and celebrated? Perhaps most importantly, how can we reverse our society’s neglect of the elderly? source:Films Media Group

Watch a Video Clip and Find out More about the documentary "Growing Old"

"DO NOT GO GENTLY"

Produced and Directed by: Melissa Godoy

"What role does creativity play in the process of aging? How important is imagination to the experience of being human? What are the most inventive artists expressing at very old age? And why?"

"Leo Ornstein was still humming in his bed at the Santa Maria Nursing Home. Godoy and HD cinematographer Mike Bizzarri drove to Green Bay, Wisconsin in a snowstorm to attempt to rub elbows with this creative soul at 109. Ornstein died two weeks later, but he left a legacy and piles of manuscripts that may take decades to fully appreciate. Frederic Franklin, Arlonzia Pettway, Dr. Cohen, and the remarkable team at Arts for the Aging were all travelers on the road toward that question: What role does creativity play in the process of aging? How important is imagination to the experience of being human? What are the most inventive artists expressing at very old age? And why?"
source: donotgogently.com

Find out More about the documentary "Do Not Go Gently"

"A CALCUTTA CHRISTMAS"

Produced and Directed by: Maree Delofski.

"A Calcutta Christmas (1998) is a film about a group of elderly Anglo-Indians living in a Home in Kolkata. I was moved to make this film after I visited and realised that many of the elderly residents felt a strong connection to Australia, yearning for their families who had emigrated there, even though they themselves would likely never visit. Theirs was a hidden world and yet still, some of them dreamed of Australia."
source: delofski.com

Find out more about the documentary "A Calcutta Christmas"

"WHEN DID I GET OLD?"

Produced By: WFYI.

"Are there things that we can do, both as individuals and as a community, to help minimize the rough spots in the aging process, and are there measures we can take to maximize the opportunities unique to our older selves, and to make our communities more elder-friendly?" -
source: wfyi.org, Indianapolis

Find out more about the documentary "When Did I Get Old?"

"CAN'T AFFORD TO GROW OLD"

Produced and Directed by: Roger Weisberg for Public Policy Productions.

“Narrated by Walter Cronkite "Can't Afford to Grow Old'' gets at the heart of a heartbreaking reality."

"Elderly people, afflicted with Alzheimer's disease or the effects of strokes or other lingering disabilities, must exhaust their life's savings as well as the energies and emotions of their husbands, wives and children before the Government offers help -and then only in the form of a bed in a nursing home.”
source:nytimes.com

Find out more about the documentary "Can't Afford To Grow Old"

"PILLS UNLIMITED"

Produced by: Chantal Bowen
Directed by: Sylvie Van Brabant

“...explores the growing problem of over-medication of the elderly.”

"Why do so many elderly women believe in health dispensed from the vast supplies of the pharmacy? Is it possible to convince elderly women that they can eat well, sleep well, and maintain their zest for life, without drugs? In ‘Pills Unlimited,’ young and old unite in the search for answers to these important questions. From a classroom where students are asked to research the subject to a doctor's office, and from a seniors' center to a grandmother's apartment, the film explores the growing problem of over-medication of the elderly.”
source: National Film Board of Canada

Find out more about the documentary "Pills Unlimited"