Join Shelly Isaacs for this IN-PERSON series, where he will host the screening of a film and post-discussion. Offered in person at FIU's Biscayne Bay campus. Building and room to be announced.
Please mark your calendars for this session: Four (4) Tuesdays: January 13, 20, 27 and February 3 from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm.
Theme: Unfinished Journeys: Late-in-Life Characters Redefining Themselves.
While society often expects those in their later years to remain static, these stories remind us that self-discovery does not have an expiration date. Each character embarks on a physical or emotional voyage confronting long-held secrets, seeking out lost truths, and ultimately reclaiming an identity that apart from their roles as parents or spouses.
1/13 - Everybody’s Fine – Italy – 1990
In the wake of a significant family loss, a retired widower realizes that his wife was the only bridge between him and his grown children. When they all cancel on a planned reunion, he decides to travel across the country, discovering that the "fine" lives his children described are far more complicated and fragile than he was led to believe.
1/20 - Rose – France – 2021
Suddenly, after a long marriage, 78-year-old Rose finds herself a widow. Pressured by her children to settle into a quiet and predictable life of mourning, she instead chooses to embrace a sudden late-life awakening, reclaiming her right to desire, adventure, and a future re-defined by her own needs rather than family expectations.
1/27 - My Happy Family – Georgia – 2017
In a crowded, multi-generational household in Tbilisi, 52-year-old Manana stuns her family by calmly announcing she is moving out to live alone. Despite the protests of her husband, parents, and children—who cannot understand why a "happy" woman would leave—Manana seeks a silent space where she can finally hear her own voice.
2/3 - Touch – Iceland – 2024
Prompted by a debilitating health condition and the closure of the world during the pandemic, an elderly Icelandic widower sets out on a final, international journey to find his first love. Having disappeared fifty years prior, he races against time and fading memory to solve a life-long mystery and find closure before the trail goes cold.