Closing Night Gala

Sun May 27 | 7:30 pm | G7

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Producers/Directors: Sharon Bartlett & Maria LeRose, Canada, 2007, 75 minutes
Produced for Knowledge Network

WORLD PREMIERE. Producers/Directors in attendance.

It’s a journey none of us takes willingly – the journey Beyond Memory.
This film is an intimate portrayal of what it’s like to live with dementia, or to love someone with this terrible disease. The filmmakers gain extraordinary access into the lives of families courageously coping with dementia – from their practical strategies to prolong independence, through to the glorious discovery that love, somehow, survives even the loss of memory.

The characters offer us all an essential lesson, about really living each day. Elaine is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at just 47. She works to keep her brain active and goes on to become the first person with Alzheimer’s to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. A 1950s Rhythm & Blues star, 82-year-old Milt can’t remember the words to songs but can still show off the dance moves that first attracted his wife, Ruby. George gives up his job and moves home when his mother’s memory fails. He patiently reminds her of all the important details in her life, save one: Alberta’s forgotten she has Alzheimer’s and George sees no reason to constantly remind her of this painful fact. Suffering from a rare and fast-moving form of dementia, 57-year-old Dede has pretty much had her memory wiped clean. Yet when her husband, Gerry, enters the room, Dede smiles. Her connection to him has survived beyond memory.

Beyond Memory illustrates the many different types of dementia, the new research in causes and treatments, and what we can do to hold onto our memories. However, the power of the documentary is in the filmmakers’ unusual access to their subjects, and their tenderness in telling the stories of these people moving beyond memory.

Directors’ Biography

Award winning producers/directors Sharon Bartlett and Maria LeRose share a commitment to create programs that reflect the realities of peoples’ lives. They have worked as a team for almost twenty years and have completed nine biographies for the CBC series Life & Times, a Knowledge Network documentary series on Child and Youth Mental Health, and numerous other documentaries that tell the stories of ordinary people who live through extraordinary life events.

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