Familiar Touch
2024 | Dir Sarah Friedland | USA | 92 min
Stars: Kathleen Chalfant, Carolyn Michelle, Andy McQueen
Ruth Goldman (Kathleen Chalfant), an older woman with dementia, leaves her home for a date. But what she thinks is a hotel turns out to be an assisted living facility, and she must contend with an array of new faces, routines, and surroundings as her own identities and desires shift.
While Ruth resists identifying with her aging neighbors, she connects with the care workers there (Carolyn Michelle and Andy McQueen) and is drawn towards her son (H. Jon Benjamin), whom she mistakes for a suitor. A former cook, Ruth finds agency preparing meals in the facility kitchen. She slides into younger selves as she embraces the sensory experiences of the community's activities and daily life. But when the reality of her situation sinks in, Ruth feels betrayed and flees the facility in search of something familiar.
Inspired by writer/director Sarah Friedland‘s work as a memory care worker and teaching artist to older adults, FAMILIAR TOUCH is an intergenerational production made in collaboration with the residents and care workers at a Los Angeles retirement community. The groundbreaking coming-of-old-age narrative is rooted in Ruth’s perspective – underscoring how, even as Ruth’s world transforms, she remains herself.
This film includes scenes where there is soft dialogue and these scenes will include subtitles of the spoken words.
Tuesday 07 July at 2.30pm and 7.30pm - Trailer below
This film will be preceded by a 4 min short - CALL OF THE CRANES
The filmakers say "CALL OF THE CRANES was created by and with the older people performing in the film. They’re members of 'The Memory Gang' in Hämeenlinna, southern Finland, a self-organised group of people living with or close to memory loss. The Memory Gang is always on the lookout for inspiring and exciting activities to do together.
The creative spark for CALL OF THE CRANES came from The Memory Gang members after they'd watched a short film, CRANE, and wondered how the story might continue. That's where this film work began!
Through the movement and imagination in our film, we wanted to show that the inner world of older people is often versatile, dynamic and full of adventure. Things are not always as they seem from outside: Anything is possible!
The inspiration for the white woollen shawls in our film came from a shawl that featured in the first film, CRANE. Elli, our producer, went to a charity shop and miraculously found a stack of white, handmade, traditional, Finnish shawls - one for each person in the film! The shawls felt meaningful in many ways: as a part of a transformation seen in the film; as part of a - sometimes fragmented - memory of an older craft activity; as a piece of clothing that our performers could use creatively in the film and could also wear in their everyday lives after the film was made."