Film Screening: "Familiar Touch"

Description

Johns Hopkins Film and Media Studies presents a free screening of the award-winning film Familiar Touch. The film was written and directed by Sarah Friedland, and it premiered at the prestigious Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Lion of the Future Award, and the Orizzonti section Best Director and Best Actress prizes.

The film is nearly universally acclaimed, with many award nominations for its writing, directing, and performance. it boasts an 87/100 on Metacritic. It tells the story of octogenarian former cook Ruth, as she transitions into assisted living as she "navigates her relationship with herself, her caregivers, and her family amidst her shifting memories and desires."

Emerging out of a community filmmaking process with real-life assisted living residents and the filmmaker, the film emerges as a testament to the beauty and complexity of this period of life.

It has been hailed by The Los Angeles Times as: "a small miracle of realigned empathy, turning away from the condescension and easy sentiment of so many narratives about late-in-life adaptation. Instead it finds something infinitely more layered and meaningful, especially where Chalfant's utterly commanding characterization is concerned."

A Q&A will be held with Ariel Green of gerontology and geriatric medicine; Jennifer Schrack of the Johns Hopkins Center for Aging and Health, and the film's producer, Alexandra Byer (FMS '11), after the screening.