While it’s not quite a taboo subject of conversation, there is a lack of dialogue about the complexities of caring for the elderly. Particularly when attentive, patient, compassionate, round-the-clock home care is required, the challenges of doing that work — which is often underpaid, with little benefits — remains undiscussed. However, in the upcoming documentary “Care,” filmmaker Deirdre Fishel explores the dedicated workers, their clients, and the issues that are ongoing in that work environment.
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The film makes its New York Premiere at DOC NYC, and will bring audiences a closer look at caregivers who give much of their empathy, time, and commitment to look over clients who are sometimes dealing with difficult health problems, often for little in monetary return. Here’s the official synopsis:
CARE pulls back the curtain on the largely unseen world of paid home care. With a verité eye, it follows the stories of care workers and their clients. We meet undocumented Vilma, who lovingly cares for 93-year old Dee—long an independent businesswoman in Staten Island, 3,000 miles away from her closest family. We go to work with Laurie, mother of 5, who tends to wheelchair-bound Larry in a tiny rural Pennsylvania town. In Manhattan, we meet Toni whose husband, a CBS executive, suffers from severe Parkinson’s. CARE depicts the beauty and social importance of home-based care. It also reveals a broken system, where workers make poverty wages and families struggle to pay for the care they need. The film sounds the alarm about a rapidly aging population and an impending crisis of care.
“Care” will debut at DOC NYC in the “American Perspectives” Section on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2:15 p.m. at SVA Theatre and have its national television broadcast premiere on “America Reframed” in 2017. Check out our exclusive trailer for “Care” below.
