For almost 4 years,  I have been documenting on camera my 97-year old grandmother Lois and her 79 year old  caretaker and daughter Gail while they learn to evolve their relationship to each other, their family and the world around them as the past becomes more irrelevant to their future. 

This began as a short film (titled Beautiful Swimmer, the teaser above) shot during The Big Island Film Festival in 2016  where our feature film Catfish Blues was screening.   Lois (the then 94-year old leading actor in the award winning indie film) was struggling at the event to remember even being in a film.   Suddenly, the value of this once small project would be within the protracted documenting over these crucial years while sons, daughters and grandchildren learned to develop an evolving relationship with the matriarch of the family. 
The phrase "wrestling for the company" is one of the few consistent reoccurring memories in my grandmother's mind of how she and her brother "Hughie" as young children would be asked to wrestle each other in front of their parents' company for entertainment.  Though other moments have become lost or mis-shelved in her mind, some moments and emotions have remained as important or potent information for her.  Through on camera interviews, inventive cinematography, vintage film and candid moments of love and despair, the camera is turned from the feature film production of the last decade towards a much more personal subject;  family and one of the most challenging diseases of our time. 

Incorporating multiple modes of equipment including a Sony A7S2 Camera, SmallHD Monitor, Inspire Drone, iPhone 10 and array of classic Canon FD and Russian Helios lenses,  this project embodies many years of knowledge and experience in the film industry to create both an original and well produced narrative.  This venture also incorporates hours of historical 16mm footage shot by my grandfather, Lois' husband Kenny, in the 1940s through the 1960s of our family at a very different time that my grandmother today continues to reconcile with.
 
Below is an outtake from the preparation of one interview with Lois in 2019:

This very personal and evolving  journey as Lois approaches 100 years old and how she relates with all of those close and near to her in new and unexpected ways, all unfolds on camera.  Discovering this narrative and visual journey is a very spontaneous and ongoing part of the filmmaking itself, requiring flexible equipment and mind set.  It is to my knowledge one of the first continuous real time studies of the effects and reflections of a woman as her journey leads her into a new and unfolding state of mind....  

And love.
Why Support Me?
Sharing the story of my grandmother, mother and family and this flourishing experience is not only a very personal one but a vitally important ambition as well.    Chronicling so closely these personal experiences will be an important document for medical and wellness practitioners and families in the future.   So anything you can contribute to continuing this passion project would be deeply appreciated.

Share My Campaign: 
Sharing the campaign (gf.me/u/whdb43) with the hashtag #Wrestlingforthecompany on social media networks will increase the chances of meeting or even exceeding the goal.   Any of our photos you are welcome to pass along in the sharing of it.
Fund Distribution: 
Producing a feature length project is an extremely time-consuming, technical, expensive process that has many moving parts.  I hope to raise enough money to finish the project over the next 24 months (about her 100th birthday) as professionally as possible and with as much of my attention to detail as feasible.  Though the camera equipment and accessories are adequate there are improvements and upgrades to make the documenting easier and more efficient.  These include more quality lenses, microphones, software, etc.  Transportation cost and even paying for grandma's lunch while on location will all be part of the expenses of continuing the film.  Costs for transferring the vintage 16mm film footage is also part of the budget.  
Some of the funds will be directed as well to help ease the burden on my mother and her own constant but effortlessly given care-taking attention.  Though she would be the last one to even ask,  no greater inspiration exists than watching the generous and altruistic attention and care that is exchanged between them. 

Financing the actual documentary not only includes the post production (editing, color correction, original music, graphics, sound) but the marketing of it as well.  This includes future film festivals, potential theater rentals (depending how much we raise), online marketing through Facebook ads, websites, etc.  All making sure the final project will reach its largest audience.   
There are over 50 million people with dementia today and this number is expected to reach 75 million in the next ten years.  We can not expect a cure any time soon, but what we can do is learn to discover with each other the ways and means to shift our expectations and still retain the connection to our kinship and history.     Through this documentary, I hope to allow other families into this personal world where we can all try and learn how the real connection is not set in the memories but rather within the new love and understanding born of each new day.