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Best of Fest Film Descriptions
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Always
A delightful fictional film produced in Germany. Friedrich and Gertrude are in their seventies when Friedrich experiences a belated mid-life crisis and decides to ‘go it alone’.  Surprising him by consenting to giving him his freedom, Gertrude uses her charm to make him realize what he will miss. Subtitles.
Directed by Jophi Ries 
14 minutes     Purchase: $99     Rental: $39     Item Code S/AL  
Backseat Bingo 
 This clever animated video effectively dispels societal preconceptions about romance and older adults. A refreshingly candid group of 70-, 80-, and 90- something older adults share personal revelations on their continued need for love and intimacy.
6 Minutes       Purchase only: $79.00              Item code BSB

Beauty Before Age
This award-winning video critically examines the power of youth, beauty and the fear of aging in the gay male community. Interviews with younger and older gay males offer a rare perspective on society’s obsession with physical appearance. Points out the need for all individuals, regardless of gender preferences, or age, to accept aging as a positive experience. 
Produced and Directed by Johnny Symons
22 minutes     Purchase: $125    Rental: $65     Item Code S/BBA

Big Mama
Academy-award-winning documentary about Viola Dees, age 89, also known as ‘Big Mama’, who cares for her l2-year-old grandson, Walter, whose parents are absent. But is she the best person to raise him?  Over the course of 18 months, Big Mama suffers serious health problems, with severe emotional consequences for Walter. While contending with her own declining health, and a bureaucratic social and legal system, Dees fights the misconception that age supersedes one’s ability to love and care for a child.  "When, exactly, are you too old to love your own grandchild?” she asks.
Directed by Tracy Seretean 
39 minutes                   Purchase only: $69.95                   Item Code S/BM
Buddy and Grace 
A charming story about the enduring love of an elderly man and his wife, the latter suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Despite their wish to continue to live independently, their family attempts to make decisions for them based on safety concerns.  Ultimately, faced with the prospect of separation, Buddy again becomes the man with whom Grace fell in love, and the two are united again in a whimsical and romantic fashion. 
Directed by Claudia Myers 
22 minutes   Purchase: $99     Rental: $39     tem Code S/BG
Chocolate Sharks 
When an Israeli couple’s plans to take a vacation are derailed by the babysitter’s last minute cancellation, the wife prevails on her father to take over the responsibility, despite his and his 12-year-old grandson’s mutual reluctance to spend time together.  In delightful vignettes and true-to-life acting, both parties discover how to communicate with each other, and how much they can learn from each other. Recommended especially for intergenerational audiences. Produced in Israel. Subtitles.
Directed by Jorge Gurevich 
30 minutes   Purchase: $99    Rental: $39  Item Code S/CS

Flowers for Charlie 
Charlie, in his early seventies, boards the local bus one morning and ushers in a sense of cheer and warmth that soon engages many of the younger riders, despite themselves. Laced with humor, the video builds quickly to a surprising and emotive climax. As an elder role model, Charlie presents an empowering image of older adulthood.
Produced and Directed by Mark Heller-Wade

11 minutes    Purchase: $99     Rental: $39       Item Code FFC
For Better or For Worse 
An Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature, this film presents intimate portraits of five culturally diverse couples whose marriages have spanned fifty years or more – and who have succeeded in keeping the flame alive. Their stories are remarkably frank and open minded, and full of down-to-earth insights about how their relationships have stayed healthy.
Produced and Directed by David Collier
55 minutes                   Purchase $179                         Rental: $55                   Item Code FBFW
Grandma’s Hands 
Today in America, some four million children are being raised by their grandparents.  This intimate and gently probing documentary studies three ethnically diverse urban families in which grandparents are raising their grandchildren. This is a result of their own children’s drug addictions, at a time in their lives when they expected to be enjoying a quiet retirement. There is remarkable testimony from the grandchildren, who speak about the trauma of watching a parent sink into addiction, and who are grateful to be in a loving and stable environment provided by the grandparent.
Directed by Jennifer Paige
28 minutes      Purchase: $99      Rental: $49        Item Code S/GH
Inside/Out 
A woman’s poetic struggle to deal with Bell’s Palsy – a disease that has left half her face paralyzed.  With artistry and frankness, the narrator explores how our face, and entire physical appearance, can both mask and expose us. This short but insightful video will trigger feelings and reflection on an issue faced by most of us in a society that has a hard time dealing with the physical effects of aging.
Directed by Jennifer Petrucelli 
8 minutes       Purchase: $79       Rental: $39      Item Code IO
Life Stories 
Intensely moving stories created by older adults who explore their inner lives in a writing class that is led by Thomas Coles, PhD, a well known professor and author of books on creativity and aging. Issues of self-esteem, loss, and friendship are explored through their personal histories.
Directed by John Ankele and Anne Macksoud 
60 minutes       Purchase: $99     Rental: $45         Item Code S/LS
Something Else  
Psychotherapist Emily Atwater is hired to determine eccentric Arthur Munson’s mental competency. The problem? He’s covered his house with 50,000 beer cans. Is Arthur Munson a folk artist or certifiable? The filmmaker was inspired by the lifework of John Milkovich, who, with his wife’s blessing, transformed their simple home into a magical world or an eyesore, based on one’s perspective. A delightful story about the way we choose to live our lives.
Directed by Charlene Crandall   
19 minutes    Purchase: $89       Rental: $39        Item Code S/SE  
String Worms at Budd Terrace 
Joan O’Sullivan has Lewy Body Disease, a form of dementia. Or does she? Could the ‘string worms’ the doctors call hallucinations be real, rapidly infecting the facility where Joan, the filmmaker’s mother, lives? This film—riveting and intimate, sometimes humorous, sometimes sad—is a story about life, love, family, and dementia. 71 Minutes Purchase: $149.00 Rental: $55.00 Item code SWB
71 Minutes       Purchase: $149.00     Rental: $55.00    Item code SWB

The Yard People: An Intergenerational Love Story  
An inspirational documentary about a lively group of African-American couples who came together in Buffalo, New York during the l940’s, and tore down the fences in their back yards to create a more neighborly and supportive environment .  Now in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, they remain friends today due to their celebrations of intergenerational love that they have ritualized in the form of “yard parties” and community activism.  
Directed by W. Joye Hardiman  
29 minutes      Purchase: $99       Rental: $39        Item Code S/YP  

Two Thousand  
Sometimes humorous, always intriguing, this video shows the unique bond shared by children and older adults. Full of delight and surprise, the video starts with a baby and a l00-year-old woman, and then moves on with other short, unrehearsed interplays between pairs of a child and an older adult. (The combined ages of each pair add up to l00, and the total pairs add up to 2,000).  
Directed by Steen Moller Rasmussen  
29 minutes       Purchase: $99      Rental: $39        Item Code S/2000  

Voice of an Angel  
When Stan Feldman gets a call to tune Celia Rodriguez’s piano he can’t help but wonder, could it really be the same beautiful singer, Celia Rodriguez, that he had a crush on, after all these years? A wonderful and romantic slice of life story for all audiences of all ages. In English, with some Spanish phrases.  
Directed by Joshua Marston  
15 minutes         Purchase: $79        Rental: $39      Item Code S/VOA
Terra Nova Films, Inc.
9848 South Winchester Avenue, Chicago IL 60643
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e-mail sifva@terranova.org