Seems Like Only Yesterday

Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies

August 1997 •English

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.

Sunset over Mulholland Drive

May 2019 •German

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.

Who Will Burry The Dead?

May 2016 •English

This documentary offers a deep, candid, and historical look at the Christian experience of America's largest and best-known tribes: the Dakota and Lakota. Its exploration into Native American history also takes a hard and detailed look at President Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy of 1873, which was, in effect, a "convert to Episcopalianism or starve" edict put forth by the American government in direct violation of its Constitution. The devastation it had on the values of the people affected were dramatic and extremely long-lasting. Grant's policy was finally ended over 100 years later by the Freedom of American Indian Religions Act in 1978. Interlaced with extraordinarily candid interviews, this documentary presents an insider's perspective of how the Dakota and Lakota were estranged from their religious beliefs and their long-standing traditions.

Mah-Jongg: The Tiles that Bind

June 1998 •English

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.

Pretty Old

January 2012 •English

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.

Lovebirds

September 2018 •French

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.

The Test

August 2023 •English

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.

Young @ Heart

October 2008 •English

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.

Father

November 2020 •Chinese

The director's grandfather is a blind fortune teller and his father a real-estate owner. They have grievances against each other for dismantling the old house. Grandfather thinks it's time for him to leave and asks Father to quit his job. At the same time, an accident happens at Father's construction site. They are entangled in dealing with the hatred from the past and the kinship that has always existed.

Des nuances de sexe et de gris

February 2017 •French

Peace

January 2010 •Japanese

What is peace? What is coexistence? And what are the basis for them? PEACE is a visual-essay-like observational documentary, which contemplates these questions by observing the daily lives of people and cats in Okayama city, Japan, where life and death, acceptance and rejection are intermingled.

How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy

August 2014 •English

In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921-2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! With the flair of a seasoned raconteur, Leacock recounts key moments in his seventy years as a filmmaker and the innovations that he, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and others invented that revolutionized documentary filmmaking, and explores the mystery of creativity. With the passing of both Blank and Leacock, the documentary is a moving insight into the lives of two seminal figures in the history of film.

While Waiting

March 2017 •Spanish

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.

Dancing with Maria

August 2014 •Spanish

María Fux spends her life training dancers, particularly those with disabilities. But now, at 90, she finds her toughest student may be herself.

Mary and Bill

December 2010 •English

Mary and Bill is a film focusing on Mary Stroebe and Bill Wambach. Mary is a 90-year-old triathlete and Bill an 83-year-old high jumper who holds the National record in his age bracket. Bill was also named "Male Athlete of the Year" by the National Congress of State Games. Mary appeared on the "Regis and Kelly Show" and as a result was nominated for and received a "Relly" award. The film follows Mary and Bill immediately after they experience serious health related problems. Mary brakes her leg while down hill skiing and Bill, who had smoked for 45 years, suffers a heart attack. Despite these physical ailments, both decide to train and compete in their respective events. Mary hopes to complete the Lifetime Fitness triathlon and Bill will attempt to win first place in high jumping at the National Senior Olympics. Through their amazing commitment, both Mary and Bill prove that age is just a number.

Atentamente

December 2016 •Portuguese

ATENTAMENTE is a film that, through the sensation of the time passing by and the presence of the death that wanders into a nursing home, allows us to feel the life through the illusion that love brings along. Libardo and Alba, a couple of elders who met each other at the nursing home where they live, they fall for, they become boyfriends and start to struggle in order to find fifty thousand pesos to rent a room for one night at a hotel so they can have a privacy moment, since at the nursing home where they live is not possible to have that. While struggling they must face each other, face their fears, their limitations, their pains, their time as well as their fragility so they can construct that moment in which they meet love. A struggle that seems to be easy, but for them is an odyssey against time, against their limitations and their own ghosts.

True Love Never Dies

June 2021 •Norwegian Bokmål

What can happen when you meet your high school sweetheart for the first time in 70 years? Odd is a 93 years old man who lost his wife two years ago. Else has never been married and has never forgotten about Odd who she was in love with, in her young days. One day Else pick up her phone and calls Odd. One phone call lead to another and they decide to meet again for the first time in 70 years.

Le vieil âge et l'espérance

April 2019 •French

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.

L'érotisme et le vieil âge

February 2017 •French

The director deals with the subject of the sexuality of older people, an often taboo subject. The actress Louise Portal and her partner Jacques Hébert participated in this documentary. They share their experience with us.

Those Who Come, Will Hear

June 2018 •Inuktitut

“Those Who Come, Will Hear” proposes a unique meeting with the speakers of several indigenous and inuit languages of Quebec – all threatened with extinction. The film starts with the discovery of these unsung tongues through listening to the daily life of those who still speak them today. Buttressed by an exploration and creation of archives, the film allows us to better understand the musicality of these languages and reveals the cultural and human importance of these venerable oral traditions by nourishing a collective reflection on the consequences of their disappearance.