Documentary/Film Research

(Sketchbook w. Film Screenshots & own notes)

Sarah Polley (2006). Away from Her. USA: Lionsgate.

“Away from Her”

Notes:

* Wife (Fiona) puts objects household object in wrong places

* Labels put on draws to remember locations

* Forgets how to pronounce words (Wine)

* “ I think I may be beginning to disappear”

* They lived in the house for 20 years, Fiona thought they did for only ½

* Fiona is accepting of Dementia, husband (Grant) finds it a struggle

* 30 day no-see policy at the care home (no visitors whatsoever) so Fiona can settle in

* Patients inside are lonely, quiet and isolated without their families around them

* Husband and wife lose physical touch (no cuddling, holding hands)

* 44 years of marriage together

* “Going, but not gone”

* Husband doesn’t want the wife to go to the care home

* Husband drops wife off, she asks him to make love and then leave

* Husband left distraught

FIRST VISIT

* Nurse warns husband to not take offence if wife doesn’t remember him

* Wife doesn’t remember him

* Memories seem to come and go

* Wife had an attached friend (Aubrey, an old crush of hers)

* Aubrey is the only friend who doesn’t confuse her

* Husband suspects her cheating/ faking her lost mind

* Perhaps postponed punishment for the husband cheating on her 20+ years ago

* Husband cracks and tells her everything, makes her very upset

SIDE STORY (1)

* Fiona is depressed

* Aubrey is back at home with his wife, she can no longer afford care

* “ She had a spark of life”

* Marion doesn’t like the idea of Fiona and her husband

BACK TO HOME

* Wife in love with Aubrey

* Aubrey draws pictures of her (relation to “I Remember When I Paint”)

* Aubrey cries when Grant comes to see his wife

* Fiona has no emotion/not engaging with husband reading her a book (Not looking/ hearing)

* Fiona hardly moves, her muscles could potentially deteriorate (Could be in a walker)

* Fiona is progressing to floor 2 for more assisted care

* “ For people who really lost it…”

SIDE STORY (2)

* Marion gets drunk and asks Grant to go to a dance with her

* Give them a chance to go out into the real world

* Whilst dancing, Grant cant stop thinking of Fiona

* Grant sleeps with Marion to get Aubrey back at the home to visit depressed Fiona

BACK TO HOME

* Fiona is on the 2^nd floor

* Grant drives Aubrey to the home to see Fiona

* Before Aubrey goes in to see Fiona, Grant goes in before

* Fiona remembers Grant reading her the books

* She begins to remember who Grant is

END.

(Sketchbook w. Documentary Screenshots & own notes)

Eric Ellena and Berna Huebner (2014). I Remember Better When I Paint. USA: Rhode Island Int Film Festival.

“I Remember Better When I Paint”

Notes:

* Berna Gorenstein Huebner, daughter to renowned artist, Hilda Gorenstein

* Berna encouraged the production of the documentary revolving around her mother

* Dementia known to make those with the disease not capable to engage well

* Hilda said, “I remember better when I paint”

* Hopeful story for those who are fearful of the disease

* Hilda was a Dementia patient

* Hilda had students from Chicago Institute of Arts to help her paint

* Hilda produced her own art exhibition (over 300 pieces)

* Hilda passed 1998

* Berna set up the Hilhurst Foundation (Scholarship available to students who will work with people suffering memory loss)

* MEMORABLE QUOTE: “ To touch and be touched, to love and be loved”

* Medication doesn’t help give people a life worth living

* Creative arts are a doorway for those with Dementia

* Brings peace to mind

* Helps to relax those

* Majority lose cognitive/ communicative skills once diagnosed

* Creative arts encourages communication and opinions

* Museums/Galleries (Lourve/ MoMA, Chicago Institute of Arts) special programs for those with Dementia

* Changes the general publics perspective on those who have Dementia

* Creative Arts doesn’t rely on short-term memory

* Considered as therapeutic

* “Patient” is a sigma term for those with Dementia (Degrading, pressuring)

* Art used to extend and create a life worth living

* Families have tears of joy; a hope of having their family member(s) back in their lives