{"id":106147,"date":"2023-01-04T10:07:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=106147"},"modified":"2023-02-28T07:05:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T15:05:14","slug":"legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Legacy film fest on aging offering a variety virtually"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n<\/strong><\/em>The documentary short \u201cEddy\u2019s World,\u201d about 98-year-old toy inventor Eddy Goldfarb, screens in the Legacy Film Festival on Aging. (Courtesy Sheila Malkind)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n
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In May 2021, Sheila Malkind, the executive director of the San Francisco-based Legacy Film Festival on Aging, was recovering from a stroke.<\/p>\n

“Of course, I’d like to have my body functioning better, but I’m glad I’m alive and still vital mentally and physically,” says the still sanguine Malkind.<\/p>\n

The event she founded in 2011 has expanded significantly. Last year\u2019s virtual festival screened 30 films; this time 40, mostly documentaries, will be split into 18 feature programs available online from Jan. 6 through Jan. 22.<\/p>\n

A team \u2014 Malkind, a curator and a handful of reviewers \u2014 pores over possible selections. \u201cIf we all say \u2018maybe,\u2019 we probably won\u2019t pick the film,\u201d says the 84-year-old festival founder, \u201cbut many times we all say \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, several flicks that focus on music won a consensus. Among Malkind\u2019s favorites from the event\u2019s 11th annual edition, she names two: \u201cFor the Left Hand\u201d and \u201cThe Ten of Us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Norman Malone, who mastered the piano and went on a concert tour at age 78, is the subject of \u201cFor the Left Hand.\u201d (Courtesy Kartemquin Films)<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n

She loves the first, she explains, \u201cbecause a man who\u2019d been disabled at an early age, Norman Malone, still mastered some of the most difficult and beautiful music with just one hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second, which she calls \u201ca fun film,\u201d is about a group of friends who started as teens doing folk music who now have embarked on what the festival website calls \u201ca tour of love, unity, and addressing aging and death with humor and inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That pair, as well as many choices in the fest that for the second consecutive year will be 100% virtual, accentuate the positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to avoid doom and gloom,\u201d Malkind says. \u201cI believe that no matter what our age, we\u2019re still interested in being alive, in doing whatever we can do. Life can still be exciting in many ways, and we have to take advantage of that possibility, of making old age palatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Former teen folk musicians address \u201caging and death with humor and inspiration\u201d in \u201cThe Ten of Us.\u201d (Courtesy Sheila Malkind)<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n

Other films she touts are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cEddy\u2019s World,\u201d a documentary short by Lyn Goldfarb that centers on the filmmaker\u2019s father. Reports Malkind: \u201cIt\u2019s about a toy inventor who\u2019s now 101 (he was only 98 when the film was made) and shows a man who\u2019s delightful.\u201d\u00a0 Eddy, best known for \u201cchattering teeth\u201d (but who created more than 800 other toys), cheerfully states in the film, \u201cI think that when you do create work, it stimulates your brain and that helps keep your body healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cDear Audrey,\u201d is, Malkind says, \u201ca beautiful film on Alzheimer\u2019s that shows kindness and understanding. It\u2019s very moving \u2014 at one point [the husband] goes into the facility where [his wife] is and sleeps in the same bed that she\u2019s in, showing his love and tenderness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cMy Mother Dreams: The Satan\u2019s Disciples in New York,\u201d a short film about a widowed Midwestern housewife who becomes obsessed with a Hell\u2019s Angels-ish bikers\u2019 club, won a 1999 Academy Award for best live action short.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cGolden Age Karate,\u201d a very short short, is about a 15-year-old martial arts champion who teaches senior citizens self-defense at a local nursing home, \u201cgiving them the tools to feel in control, connected, and cared for.\u201d It\u2019s part of an 84-minute festival program with a self-explanatory title: Vitality.<\/p>\n

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Sheila Malkind (Courtesy Sheila Malkind)<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n

With a U.S. Census forecast that by 2035, there will be 78 million people age 65 and older in the country, Malkind aims to flip the attitudes and depiction of older people in Hollywood movies, who \u201care often still portrayed as irrelevant, sometimes absurd, or they are stereotypical wise elders with limited face time, who give sage advice to the younger, more active characters.\u201d She says, \u201cMost American films do not attempt to portray the richness and variety, nor the triumphs and challenges, of older people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malkind, who grew up in Brooklyn, moved to Chicago, and then relocated to San Francisco in 2003, earned two master\u2019s degrees from Chicago schools. Despite wearing a brace since her stroke, she often walks 40 or 50 minutes in the hills with her son beside her.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s seemingly impossible for her to have anything but an upbeat attitude.<\/p>\n

A quote on the festival\u2019s website from 19th<\/sup> century writer and philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott, who said, \u201cTo keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent. This is to triumph over old age,\u201d contrasts nicely with a playful quote from Malkind: \u201cI always looked forward to getting older \u2014 it\u2019s a part of life, so what the heck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Screenings in the Legacy Film Festival on Aging cost $12 per program and $65 for a pass. Visit http:\/\/legacyfilmfestivalonaging.org\/.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This story was first published on <\/i>LocalNewsMatters.org<\/a>, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News\u00a0Foundation http:\/\/www.baycitynews.org\/contact\/<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Woody Weingarten can be contacted by email at voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a> or on his websites, https:\/\/woodyweingarten.com<\/a> and https:\/\/vitality press.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The documentary short \u201cEddy\u2019s World,\u201d about 98-year-old toy inventor Eddy Goldfarb, screens in the Legacy Film Festival on Aging. (Courtesy Sheila Malkind) In May 2021, Sheila Malkind, the executive director…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":3.8,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-106147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"