Mark Twain famously said, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” For 101-year-old Rose, 102-year-old Hetty and 87-year-old Alison, these words could not ring more true. These three women are among the oldest residents of the Mary Feilding Guild, a home for the “active elderly,” and remain passionately engaged in the most pressing issues of our time, even as their own time is coming to an end. They regularly share their concerns on everything from the state of politics to the decline of the media, not to mention more existential matters of life and death. Jocelyn Cammack’s tender and graceful film asks us to look where mainstream media would rather turn away. Through the lens of these three once vibrant but still vital women facing the last days of their lives, we are asked to confront the reality of physical—and sometimes mental—decline and its consequences on one’s sense of self. As a former journalist, sex therapist and counselor, respectively, these women must face a seismic shift in their own relevance to society and its values. They bring to the screen a rare perspective on old age, taking us to the edge of mortality and reporting back. Cammack’s unflinching perspective on aging is highlighted by these truly inspirational characters, and it is a privilege to share in the time of their lives.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself:
I'm one of those people who really love the way the world looks and sounds and I think filmmaking is just another way of exploring it really - like physics or painting or writing books. I graduated as a physiologist and worked as a research scientist before deciding I didn't want to 'do science' and started taking photographs instead. I'm a complete workaholic, am obsessed with learning, can't get enough international news, love being in the countryside especially around animals, think kids are like Martians - fascinating but you wouldn't want to own one - and the favorite part of my body is the bit that makes me laugh spontaneously.

What inspired this film?   How did you find your subjects?
I read an article about a residential home in North London called the Mary Feilding Guild in the Guardian newspaper and thought it sounded interesting so went up to see them, thinking I'd be there about an hour. My first impression was that I'd come to the wrong place because it wasn't at all like what I had always thought of as an old people’s home - to be honest it felt more like a hotel and I was there for about three hours being shown around and casually meeting lots of staff and residents. And I then learned that someone called Hetty Bower was about to go on a Peace March at the age of 101, so I asked to meet her. And it was my meeting with Hetty that really did it - I couldn't leave it alone after that.

She and I spoke - well she mostly - for about three hours, telling me about her life and her late husband Reg - the absolute love of her life - and her politics and her passions and then at the end of it all she stood up, looked me dead in the eye and said, "You do know I want to die don't you?"  Well no one had ever said that to me before and it's kind of awkward especially when you've only just met them. The automatic reaction is to smile a lot, tell them they still seem so young or can't possibly mean it - anything to avoid taking them seriously.  But I knew in that moment that none of that was an option with Hetty; she did want to die, she still does. She's tired, she has had enough and I later discovered that Rose also felt the same way. But it was the inherent contradiction between this very real desire and their insatiable lust for life that I found so compelling and what drew me particularly to them.

Over the next few months I met lots of the other residents too, many of whom have lived impressively accomplished lives and were really interesting and articulate people but in story terms there was something in the connection between Hetty, Rose and Alison - (Alison came to live at the Guild because of Hetty). And in the contrast between the three of them as characters; Hetty, the campaigner, Rose, the philosopher, and Alison, who is a wonderfully phlegmatic and direct personality as well as being incredibly witty and although a self-confessed "show-off" is actually entirely herself on camera.

What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
Coming from a drama/fiction background, the biggest challenge for me was getting my head around a completely different way of working. The idea of not referring to a script, entirely trusting your instincts about what’s happening in front of the camera, recognizing it for what it is and holding on to it. It’s such an incredible thing when something unfolds in front of the lens that you don't expect at all – I mean that’s true with an actor as well but ‘real’ people being themselves, responding to a thought, a question, an idea straight from the heart as it were – no rehearsal, no predetermination; you find yourself forgetting to breathe if you’re not careful, especially if it’s something very emotional for them. I had to get used to the impulse almost to look away and to accept that I wasn’t intruding, that they were okay about me being there and filming. And self-shooting most of it was a really big thing – I’d always worked with a camera crew, lighting department, etc., so doing everything myself took a bit of getting used to. It’s not easy when you’ve just realized that the sun has come out so you’re two stops over, or the person you’re filming has leaned in beyond your depth of field and as you tried surreptitiously to refocus you cracked your elbow on the pan handle so you already know you’re probably going to have to cut earlier than you'd wanted to and what are you going to do about that seeing as you never use cutaways?! – And all the while trying to keep it ‘in the moment’. All of that was the biggest challenge for me - that and getting it funded of course.

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers?
Nic Roeg, Leos Carax, Francois Truffaut, Jacques Tati, Martin Scorsese, Aki Kaurismäki, Robert Bresson, Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Mallick, Wim Wenders - I could go on!

What is your all time favorite documentary?
THE THIN BLUE LINE.

What other projects are in the pipeline?
Documentary-wise I have a couple of science/art type projects and a couple of biographical ideas - all basically exploring what it's like to be in the world. And in terms of fiction I've a science fiction thriller called DUPE and what I call a scientific ghost story called STRAIGHT ON 'TIL MORNING as well as some more experimental stuff which I'm working on myself in much the same way as I did with THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES.

Why did you become a filmmaker?
Because I went to the cinema one afternoon on my own (having had a tortuous day recording in a studio with the band I was then in – yes, very embarrassing, I know) and I sat down with only one other person in the whole auditorium and watched a film I'd never heard of by a director I didn't know and somehow that director put things on the screen in front of me that were so private to me and so deeply embedded in my psyche that I'd never acknowledged that I'd thought or felt them even to myself. It was as though he'd read the tiniest workings of my mind and then articulated them back to me through the screen - and I was so amazed that someone I'd never met could communicate with me so completely and I decided I wanted to be able to do the same to someone else. I guess I'd experienced how fantastically subtle and affecting and eloquent the medium can be and I just felt I wanted to learn this language myself. (The film was Mauvais Sang or THE NIGHT IS YOUNG in English-speaking countries and I can barely remember it now but I can remember everything about the experience of watching it). What are some of your creative influences? I love the art movements of the early twentieth century, cubism, Dadaism, surrealism - the early artist/filmmakers like Duchamp, Man Ray, Leger and then Picasso, Picabia - so much of what came out of that period of art history is a real joy to me. And then also theatre practitioners like Robert LePage and Phillipe de Coufflé and filmmakers like David Lynch and Julian Schnabel, Guy Sherwin - there's so much great stuff out there.

Did you go to film school?
Yes, I went to the Northern Film School to do a one-year MA in Fiction Direction and until now most of my films have been fiction or at least working with actors or performers rather than 'the real thing'. In some ways fiction is so much easier because you're working from a script, with this documentary thing there's no telling what might happen which is both fantastic and fantastically scary I think.

What do you shoot on?
When I'm shooting myself I shoot on mini HDV but usually I work with a cameraman and most of my films to date have been on 16mm or on digibeta. This self-shooting thing is very new to me and I really enjoy it especially for the kind of intimate situations that were involved in this film but coming from a drama background I also love working with a crew and the freedom that it gives you to really focus on the relationship between the lens and what's in front of it.

What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit?
 The theatrical screenings that I've been present at have been a real treat because the film always provokes a strong reaction from the audience. And on two occasions, Hetty (who's now 103) and Alison (a mere 89) have done a Q&A afterwards and have utterly enthralled the audience. What's interesting is that the questions posed to them often start off a bit as though, despite having just seen them hold forth on screen, no one quite believes they really are that lucid and sharp and opinionated but it soon turns into a real debate about how old people should be able to live, how we can improve society, binge-drinking teenagers, music education - you name and they can talk thoughtfully about it because they are still so engaged and involved with what's going on in the world - politically, socially and philosophically. So that's been great but also everyone has a story about an old person in their life and it has generally shaped the way they foresee their own old age - for good or bad - and it's amazing how much people want to talk about that and tease out their own feelings about growing old.

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS?
SILVERDOCS has established such a phenomenal reputation in such a short space of time not only in terms of the selection (I really want to see as many films as I can) but also in terms of the energy and excitement generated by the debates and presentations - how could any filmmaker not want to take their film and contribute to that firsthand?