Centenarians
“Having only been around for 25 years myself, I figure that those who have been here quadruple that time, who have experienced success, heartbreak and loss; over and over again, might know a thing or two about life. I have always felt that as we age, and as death becomes closer to us, that we become wiser in our scale of understanding. To my mind, I thought the answers for humanity, is best left to the people who have been on the Earth the longest!”
“And so, I figured if there was one generation with the highest enlightenment they would have to be centenarians. The other thing you first notice about centenarians, is after having experienced everything life has to offer, makes them incredibly entertaining. And that they have no ego or agenda in the stories they tell. They’re just wonderfully honest in their insights and so warm and enthusiastic about sharing those insights with someone from a younger generation, like us.”
“I guess we are figuring out a way to make a rallying cry to preserve these stories in a way that will be accessible and entertaining, with high production values. We are willing to open this up to other Millennials and cultural influencers, as a bridge between the present and their ‘grand’ stories of the past.”
“Our American ideals of bringing all the people together, and that everybody is created equal and they have inalienable rights, are all very good concepts. And for a very long time, I had a real sense of pride in that belief. But I also understood that wasn't true for everybody in our country.”
“The thing I loved about this idea, about the series ‘Centenarians’, is being able to see all of these very different American experiences through the eyes of one group. Take away their age for a moment, and I was able to interview a famous tap dancer from New York and civil rights leader and journalist. Even though their life’s experiences are so different, their viewpoint on humanity was exactly the same. Which is not all that surprising, given they’d both experienced more than 100 years of modern history!”
“When I interviewed Marvin Creamer, the world famous solo sailor from the 1970s, I asked about his own grandfather. He equated his own lifespan combined with that of his grandfather, as being equal to more than 75% of the United States entire history as a colonized country. So being able to have formative conversations with someone who had spoken to a family member from the Civil War, was an incredible experience.”
“Just imagine if a film like ‘Centenarians’ had been made in 1939, at the same time as the ‘Wizard of Oz’. We would now have a 70mm film in sound and color that would have included the stories of Civil War veterans and former plantation slaves! If the decision had been made by Hollywood to invest in our own American social history, how precious and important that film would be today.”
“Because the film studios chose not to invest in our social history back then, I feel it is essential that we do so in 2020. It is essential that we give our centenarians the opportunity to share what they have learnt about life; as their voices too, will soon be lost to history.”
“I see myself as a generational bridge between their life stories and how people consume media nowadays. Having grown up with my own grandparents living with us, I’ve always felt incredibly comfortable listening to an older generation’s experiences. And so I would like to showcase the value of those experiences to my own generation. The opportunity of sitting down and having a conversation with someone from that generation is important.”
“In speaking to Dr. Batthyany, the director of the Viktor Frank Institute, he explains that my generation (Millennials) can suffer from ‘existential frustration’. We have access to so much information and yet we are frustrated at not being able to do something with all that information. If there is anything that best describes centenarians, then it would be a generation of people who did things with their lives. They woke up in the midst of the last pandemic and the Great War. They lived through the depression, served in WWII and sent their kids off to the war in Vietnam. And then to experience another pandemic again at the end of their lives.”
“I think the film series ‘Centenarians’ shows that Millennials could also do something like this. That you could make content that is beyond what you're seeing on Instagram, or social media. You can just go out and create. You don't have to wait for somebody to tell you that you can do this. You can go out and create something meaningful with a story that helps you to lead a more enjoyable life.”
“And so it was for me, having lived my past life as a social media influencer and YouTuber in New York, before leaving for Miami. Everyone knows in the US that South Florida is the retirement capital for this country. So the first thing I noticed arriving here, is it’s a hub for this extreme age group.”
“I had been in Miami for just three weeks, during all of these centenarian celebrations. At Tamarac, near Fort Lauderdale, the local historical society was hosting an event celebrating the lives of centenarians. There were thirteen centenarians who spoke at that event, which was really my first taste of what this experience would be.”
“I remember, having no idea of what a person who was 100 years old would actually be like, or even what their capabilities would be. But I went along anyway and happened to sit down with with Joane and her friend Louise, who are our first story in the ‘Centenarian’ series.”
“There was also another centenarian, Beatrice ‘Pat’ Seinfeld who we met and went to her house to listen to her play the piano. And she has the most wonderful motto for life which is simply ‘move your ass’! Now having met all of these incredible centenarians, the first major decision was to understand what we could create with such a limited budget. And whose stories would best represent this generation.”
“Joane had been a stage-star during her career, and so she was a prime showcase of what you could do while still aging well. If you could live your life well, as apposed to just ‘living right’, you would be as graceful as Joane is. I truly believe that everybody’s story deserves to be told. But to keep the size of this project at a manageable scale we had to narrow things down quite a bit.”
“The great thing about the local news here, is they have a Centenarians section. On this particular day, I saw a celebration for Garth Reeves who was a having a 100th birthday celebration at the Miami Institute of Contemporary Art. It was a real toss of a decision as to whether I should go, because the very next day was the first day of shooting Joane’s story. So while Andriy set up the camera rentals and gear for the shoot the next day, I went ‘uninvited’ to Garth’s birthday party.”
“It was a wonderful evening with anything upwards of 150-200 people there. I have got to say, I was the only white person present. And so I navigated my way into the crowd with only my good intentions to guide me. As luck would have it, the second person I spoke to, just happened to by Garth’s assistant. Garth was extremely happy to meet, but was also a little overwhelmed by the amount of attention he was receiving.”
“And so we later reconnected at Garth’s home just after shooting Joane’s story. By getting to know Garth in this way, were were able to really get to know his personal story and how it could be told. Garth had spent most of his life fighting racism with his journalism. He was also the owner and publisher of The Miami Times, the newspaper started by his father. Garth had earned a reputation as the voice of the black community in Miami, with his paper being regarded as one of the best in the country. And so Garth was to be our second story in this series.”
“The biggest challenge Andriy and I face with these stories, is how to condense 100 years of life in to just 12 minutes. It is a responsibility to tell these stories well. It is no easy task to make them accessible, entertaining as well as sharing all of the key lessons on life that they have learnt. I think this where Andriy brings his own unique skills to each story.”
“Andriy is the great mystery collaborator here. Raised in the Soviet Ukraine, everything about American culture is new and interesting to him. So his great desire to learn of the ‘American condition’ led him to see centenarians as our ‘modern day’ heroes. In terms of my tone of voice and they way we come off on camera, was really down to how Andriy sees things. He was able to capture the essence of a 25 year old in the presence of a 100 year old. And so the way that Andriy sees us, is essentially what you see in this series.”
“He is honestly one of the most talented visual artists I have ever met, and he can quickly see what's good and what's bad in anything. When you are self funding projects like ‘Centenarians’ being able to make a decision and just go with it, is an important quality. Having a collaborator like Andriy as part of the journey, has made these stories wonderfully creative and interesting.”
Learn more about the other films in the series www.100.film.com
