Newsletter
December 2007
Hello and thanks for visiting my website. I hope that you will return to read my news letter that I plan to write once a month. I travel all over the country working and training for many different organisations and am currently working as a Consultant for Senior Action Group Edinburgh who support and enable people with dementia in Care homes in Edinburgh.
Its great to be me! I meet people who work in a variety of roles all of which though are connected to working with people with dementia. I find that I learn from others all the time and the challenge of working in this area is undiminished no matter how long you have been involved in it.
But this newsletter is to let you know of my involvement with four short films that were made and screened by C4 earlier this year. This was one of my first pieces of work since becoming a free lance trainer and consultant in September last year.
I had the opportunity to act as Consultant for Clarity Film Productions on a series of Three Minute Wonders. The series was called 'Losing Myself ' and they provided individual portraits of people with dementia. They were screened in the spring and in November 'Losing Myself Annie' won the BAFTA for best short film.
It was a pleasure to work on these and with such talented people as Sarah Tierney, the Producer and Alice Nelson the Director. Filming took place just before Christmas last year in The Tor Nursing Home in Edinburgh. The filming process was not without it's challenges and as you might expect it was at times completely unpredictable. But although it was a bit of a roller-coster ride it was worth every moment.
One of the striking things about the films for me is that although we talk about the person coming first and the illness coming second these films prove this point beautifully. As in the film we see four extremely different people who have a type of dementia. All are finding their own pathways through the illness and the films provide the opportunity for them to reflect on their lives and to reveal some of that past to the audience.
The films capture the fragmentary nature of memory that is common to all of us and lets the person explore their previous roles and history. The films are shot in a way that allows us to come up close to the person and take a look at their lives. Each is moving and has elements of humour, each film as individual as the person it depicts.
I never thought that I would part of a BAFTA winning production! This I'm sure is a once in a life time experience for me and it was a thrill to be a part of it.
Two of the films are now available for you to watch on my website. Please visit the Losing Myself page, watch the films and enjoy!
Please come back next month to read my next newsletter when I will be talking about the use of Montessori techniques for working with people with dementia.