Operator Expertise Informs Portrayal Of Memory Care In New Film ‘familiar Touch’

An older woman gets dressed and makes sandwiches for a mysterious visitor. The visitor, a man in mid-50s, looks nervous as he tells he’s taking her somewhere special. He’s even packed her bag.

The woman is excited and almost giddy on the ride there, thinking she’s going on a date – until she realizes their destination is actually the memory care wing of a senior living community, her new home.

These are the first few moments of director Sarah Friedland’s new film, “Familiar Touch.” The story follows Ruth, a retired cook, as she navigates a move from her private home into a senior living community. Along the way, she grapples with her sense of self as her memories ebb and flow.

What makes the film unique is that it is neither a harrowing look at memory care nor an overly saccharine one. Instead, the film is an honest and anti-ageist depiction of what it’s like to live within a memory care unit, including the good and the bad aspects. The film even features a scene dealing with resident elopement, a sensitive topic in the senior living industry.

Part of the reason the film is so honest is that the filmmakers shot it at Villa Gardens, a life plan community managed by Front Porch in Pasadena, California. The film also features many actual Villa Gardens residents and staff, including Jean Owen, who acted in it and worked as background casting director.

“There’s a lot of self in this film,” Owen told Memory Care Business. 

Friedland herself is also well-versed in memory care, having worked as a caregiver and later as an instructor for filmmaking courses at Villa Gardens. It was her deeper understanding that helped convince Shaun Rushforth, executive director of Villa Gardens, that Friedland planned to create something that took into account the many nuances of memory care.

“My fear was, will this be an authentic story? Will it portray us the way we really are and where we strive to be?” Rushforth said. “Sarah, thankfully, was able to help me see her vision and that we were aligned.”

To Owens, films like Familiar Touch are important because they can help people empathize with and understand older adults living in senior housing. For senior living leaders like Front Porch CEO Sean Kelly, the film is also a way by which operators can show more people the realities of getting older in a senior living community.

“There is just not enough honesty at all in how we describe aging,” Kelly told MCB. “While the journey goes on, while the struggle persists, there are moments of brightness, there are moments of purpose-enlightenment, purpose-finding, purpose- activation.”

Rushforth added that he thinks there are “many different ways this can be impactful” with incoming residents and their families.

“The cherry on top is how the film was made in collaboration with residents,” he said.

Music Box Films is distributing Familiar Touch, with screenings planned in June and July in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere. Organizers with the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care also plan to screen the film at the 2025 NIC Fall Conference in September in Austin, Texas.

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