Familiar Touch
classified 12APlease note: This was screened in
Ruth Goldman (Kathleen Chalfant), an older woman with dementia, leaves her home for a date. But what she thinks is a hotel turns out to be an assisted living facility, and she must contend with an array of new faces, routines, and surroundings as her own identities and desires shift.
While Ruth resists identifying with her aging neighbours, she connects with the care workers there (Carolyn Michelle and Andy McQueen) and is drawn towards her son (H. Jon Benjamin), whom she mistakes for a suitor. A former cook, Ruth finds agency preparing meals in the facility kitchen.
But when the reality of her situation sinks in, Ruth feels betrayed and flees the facility in search of something familiar.
Inspired by writer/director Sarah Friedland‘s work as a memory care worker and teaching artist to older adults, Familiar Touch is an intergenerational production made in collaboration with the residents and care workers at a Los Angeles retirement community.