The Genius of Marian in the Aging in Maine Screening Tour

September 18, 2014

This past Spring, The Genius of Marian was a part of the Aging in Maine, a screening tour that travels the state bringing award-winning documentary films and discussions to various communities.

The goal of the tour is to help nonprofit leaders connect with documentary films and filmmakers. For us, it was an amazing opportunity to bring The Genius of Marian to a wider audience and increase awareness about the affect that Alzheimer’s and dementia have on families and caregivers. The tour was an extension of a collaboration with a festival, organization and collection of people that we love.

The Genius of Marian was a part of the Working Films REEL AGING: Real Change residency early on in production and we were central collaborators in the Aging in Maine summit, a program co-sponsored by the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) and supported by The Fledgling Fund during CIFF 2013.

Aging in Maine was developed to inspire community-based social action campaigns designed to engage communities in a thoughtful inter-generational dialogue around the issues of aging and dementia-related illness.

According to Len Kaye, Director of the University of Maine Center on Aging, “The summit and screenings [are] a superb way in which to mobilize Maine’s aging services providers and help them share with the larger public poignant stories of both the joys and challenges associated with growing older. The beneficiaries will be Maine’s citizens who will leave the film screenings better informed of the issues, places to turn for help, and the emerging opportunities associated with Maine’s ranking as the oldest state in the nation.”

Health issues unique to the aging population will become more and more of a concern to the American public as the growth in the number and proportion of older adults continues to grow at a rate unprecedented in the history of the United States. As documented by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), two factors—longer life spans and aging baby boomers—will combine to double the population of Americans aged 65 years or older during the next 25 years to about 72 million. By 2030, older adults will account for roughly 20% of the U.S. population.

We were very happy for The Genius of Marian to be part of this important initiative.