Meet the over 60s first-time filmmakers

AT the age of 84, Clint Eastwood might be one of Hollywood’s most revered stars, but Liz Cashdan still has a couple of years on him.

And while she might not quite have his impressive back catalogue of films to her name, the 86 year-old from Sheffield is living proof that you’re never too old to learn new skills.

Liz was one of nine people from across Yorkshire who took part in a recent project that included the chance to help make a film from scratch. These first-time filmmakers, all aged between 67 and 86, produced three films which are being screened at the Bradford International Film Summit this week as part of a discussion on how older people are portrayed in modern cinema.

They collaborated with students from the Northern Film School at Leeds Beckett University as part of a European study called Cinage, which also involved older people from Italy, Portugal and Slovenia.

Jennifer Granville, principal lecturer in film, music and performing arts at the university, says the pilot project was a great example of co-operation between young and old. “All of us have been blown away by the talent, commitment and sheer energy of the Cinage volunteers. They worked as hard as any 18 year-old film student, getting up at the crack of dawn, painting sets and moving equipment.”

As well as examining whether or not the concerns of older people are reflected in cinema today, the volunteers also learned the mechanics of how to make a film from start to finish. “They learned how to direct a film, how to edit and write scripts and they really took to it,” she says.

“It was a fantastic exchange of expertise and knowledge and an example of how valuable inter-generational collaboration can be. It’s been a way for this older group of people to express themselves and learn new skills, and it was also a very successful way of bringing people together because they’ve formed a strong friendship group.”

She’s particularly pleased with the way the film students and the older volunteers bonded. “The students realised that older people have really interesting stories and they were able to help with their technical knowledge.

“Once people reach a certain age the only young people they probably come into contact with is their grandchildren, and that’s why this has been brilliant for both groups. I think one of the most positive aspects of this project is the mutual respect they had for one another.”

Doug Sandle, a 72 year-old from Leeds, directed one of the films called Trapped, about an older man’s exploits who, on leaving home to catch a train, finds himself stuck on his porch.

Doug, who has recently completed a PhD, hopes the film says something about old age that people can relate to. ”The film is witty and funny but on the serious side reflects anxieties that older people have.”

They struggled to find a suitable location and in the end had to shoot the film in his house. But despite such inconveniences he feels he’s learned a great deal. “It was an absolutely fantastic experience, working collectively in teams to produce these films and I learnt so much about the complexities of making film.”

It perhaps says something about the way we view old age as a society that people are often shocked that filmmakers, artists and writers are still going strong well into their 80s and even beyond. Yet Liz Cashdan, who was the oldest person on the project, not only wrote the script for one of the films, Swimming Pool, but was also the director and one of the actors.

The film was inspired by a 16th Century painting called The Fountains of Youth by Lucas Cranach. But unlike in the painting, where older people go into the pool and walk out young again, in Liz’s film this isn’t quite the case. “In my film there is a lot of humour, and a lot of laughs and it also poses predicaments about being older – both in mind and body.”

Liz is a published poet and teaches creative writing and although she has acted on stage before, this was the first time she’d ever been part of a film. “I’d never made a film before so I jumped at the chance to be involved. It made me realise how different acting and filmmaking is. With a play it goes from the beginning right through to the end, but with a film you do little bits and it’s all pieced together later.”

She found the project stimulating, especially the chance to work with the students. “Working alongside young people was a wonderful opportunity for them and us because it meant we worked together and learned from one another, and I really appreciated that,” she says. “It’s something new and it had a lot of positive aspects to it. I don’t know of anything else like it that’s happening.”

One of the aims of the project is to encourage older people to become more active, but in this sense they were perhaps preaching to the converted.

Those involved included a radio producer, a theatre director, while both Liz and Doug are great examples of older people who enjoy creative challenges.

But while they understand the benefits of keeping mind and body active as you enter old age, not everyone does. Old age can mean wildly different things to different people, and while some enjoy good health and can afford a busy social and cultural life, for others old age is synonymous with isolation.

Liz feels the way older people are portrayed in films today doesn’t reflect this. “I think it’s still very stereotypical. If you look at the two Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films, there are one or two jokes about ageing but these are middle class people who can afford to go to India to get away from it all – most people’s lives aren’t like that. What films are there that look at what it’s like for women in ethnic communities as they get older, or people in working class areas of our big cities? And what’s life like for retired farm workers in rural communities where bus services have been cut and the pubs and the post offices have closed?”

There are further education courses, creative writing workshops and organisations like the University of the Third Age, but Liz believes more needs to be done to support older people, whatever their situation.

“It’s important where the population is ageing and we are living longer that people are active and encouraged to learn new skills because it’s good for your mental and physical wellbeing,” she says. “I’m lucky because I have my health and mobility, but we must not let people sit and rot in old age, or be written off by people who could employ them.”

Perhaps this should be a subject for Mr Eastwood’s next movie?

Screenings of the films and a documentary about them are being screened tomorrow between 10am and noon at The Studio, at Bradford’s Alhambra. The event is free but you need to register in advance via www.bradfordcityoffilm.com/summit