A new feature documentary is traveling across America to meet people between 80 and 95, and to hear about the lives they have lived — and the lives they are living now.
PROVISIONAL — no cost to participate. Wording to confirm.
Image brief — hero
Three subjects aged 80+, side by side in three-quarter profile, looking off-camera. Golden-hour backlight, open American landscape behind. Shallow depth of field, warm grade. Avoid: studio backdrops, staged smiles, direct-to-camera, visible logos.
If you are somewhere between 80 and 95, we would like to hear from you. There is no cost, no application fee, and no obligation to continue.
Many of the strongest stories will come from a son, a granddaughter, a neighbour or a caregiver rather than from the person themselves.
The day the work stops is rarely the day the life does.
Some rebuild it deliberately. Some are surprised by it.
The film is as interested in the routine as in the milestones.
The question that tends to change the room.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to have changed the world. You just need a story you’re willing to share.
Rural communities, small towns, suburbs and major cities. Every walk of life. We are interested in all kinds of lives, not only extraordinary achievements.
Rural environmental portrait — subject 80+ on their own land, working hands visible, overcast soft light. Avoid: posed farm props.
City environmental portrait — subject 80+ in an apartment doorway or corner store, window light. Avoid: lonely-elder framing.
Maybe it is your grandmother. Your former teacher. The man who has run the hardware store for sixty years. Your neighbour. A veteran. A farmer. A musician. Someone whose story should not disappear.
Someone from the documentary team speaks with you by phone.
A longer conversation over video. A family member is welcome to help set it up.
The filmmakers may travel to meet you where you live.
Final participants are filmed over several days, sometimes with follow-up visits.
There is no cost to participate.
Submitting a story does not guarantee inclusion in the documentary.
If there is someone we should be sitting down with, tell us now.
