About the Film

Consider this. The last wave of baby boomers will soon reach sixty; meaning half of all Americans must contemplate eldercare for themselves or a loved one. That’s 200 million of us dealing with eldercare. Now consider that those same 200 million live in a country steeped in denial of its aging, frightened by the specter of dependency and death. We combat aging with pills and surgery, dismiss it with humor, and avoid it by neglecting to plan ahead. We proffer images of “positive aging,” like 90-year-old marathon runners, and shun common realities of frailty and dementia. Almost Home, a cinema verité documentary about a year in the life of people who live and work in an “old age home,” rescues the true stories of older adults and those who care for them from an exile of denial. It’s a story of one community trying to make a difference, shucking the institutional trappings of traditional nursing homes in favor of a place where we could all imagine ourselves feeling truly “at home.”

Learn more about the people behind outreach and the film’s production. Read the film’s full description. Meet the people in our film. Learn more about Saint John’s and the film’s funding.