What Remains
A documentary film currently in production
Director/DP/editor/producer
Brian Dilg
Producer/sound/camera
Justina Desriute
Synopsis
Supporting the film
Making a feature length documentary film is a multi-year full time job for a small army of dedicated people.
If you’re interested in supporting this film, the simplest way is to make a donation through our GoFundMe account.
If you want information about investing in the film, please contact us using the form below.
Why are we making this film?
Raise public awareness
Dispel misconceptions about dementia
Put a human face on the condition
I was born to extraordinarily young parents - 18 and 20. My grandparents were 39-40 when I was born. I grew up not only with all aunts, uncles, cousins, and four grandparents in the prime of their life, but even two great grandmothers whom I adored. Time with extended family gave me an extraordinarily diverse experience of people born even before the 20th century into which I was born.
Late in my childhood, one of my great-grandmothers whom we called Nana started having issues with her recall, becoming confused and increasingly unable to take care of herself and was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Although my mother’s parents had been taking care of her for many years, the declined to the point that she needed 24/7 supervision for her own safety, which was impossible given that they both had full-time jobs. They had no choice but to move her to an adult care facility. It was not a happy place to visit, much less to be. where her condition worsened until she no longer recognized her own family. She fell and broke a leg that had to be amputated. She lost all sense of purpose, identity, and even the ability to speak, eventually perishing from the disease.
Some years later, my grandparents, two of the most vivacious, dynamic, and loving people I’ve ever known finally retired. They sold their house and most of their possession to do what they move loved full time: traveling around the country camping in the myriad beautiful places for which the USA is famous. In the mid 80s, I flew out to San Francisco to join them and my parents at a campsite in the redwoods. They were living their dream and loving life. Things couldn’t be better.
But something was already happening that they weren’t talking about: even before she retired from her job, my grandmother had started to show signs typical of Alzheimer’s: memory issues, confusion, etc. It wasn’t long before she too was diagnosed with the same terrible disease that had killed her mother.
Unable to manage their life on the road, they sold the camper and moved into a trailer park near my uncle. I visited them often, and watched in horror as the most warm, joyous, and nurturing person I’d ever known lost the ability not only to remember what happened minutes ago, her entire personality began to erode. The constant confusion produced tremendous frustration. She couldn’t even dress herself at some point. My grandfather was a full time caretaker, but after she managed to slip out of the trailer one day and disappeared for hours, nearly getting killed on a nearby highway, he suffered a stroke that was undoubtedly aggravated by the stress he was experiencing.
Since the terrible experience
If you have been affected by or have a story about dementia and are interested in participating in our film, or you’d like to be kept notified of the film’s progress, please send us a message expressing your interest.