Familiar Touch

Made in collaboration with residents and staff of Villa Gardens, a continuing care retirement community in California, who participated as both cast and crew, FAMILIAR TOUCH is a coming-of (old) age film. It follows an octogenarian woman’s transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires. 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. The groundbreaking coming-of-old-age narrative is rooted in Ruth’s perspective – underscoring how, even as Ruth’s world transforms, she remains herself. (kw)