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Award-Winning Director Deirdre Fishel Returns to DOC NYC for the World Premiere of
Facing the Wind
A New Documentary Feature Film
Facing the Wind is a love story about people with Lewy body dementia, the spouses who care for them, and a remarkable community where they find sustenance and support.
OFFICIAL DOC NYC SCREENINGS
World Premiere
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - 6:30 pm
Village East by Angelika
Q&A following the screening with:
• Director Deirdre Fishel
• Producer Tony Heriza
• Film participants Linda Syzpula and Carla Preyer
Thursday, November 21, 2024 - 1:45 pm
IFC Center
DOC NYC ONLINE SCREENING WINDOW
Thursday, November 21 - Thursday, November 28, 2024
SYNOPSIS
The film follows two women, whose lives are irrevocably changed by their husbands’ diagnosis with Lewy body dementia (LBD) —a widespread, but little-known condition. After struggling to find information about her husband’s disease, Linda Szypula starts a podcast about LBD with Curry Wisenhunt, a Texan truck driver, who also has the disease. Their efforts grow into a unique online support community for those living with the disease and those caring for them. In a support group, Linda meets Carla Preyer, who has just quit her job to care for her husband Patrick. They bond over their shared challenges and the dark humor they use to cope.
Linda and Jim plan a “go-for-broke” road trip to see the country and visit friends from the support group. But only weeks into the trip, things begin to go awry, as Jim struggles with the travel. Meanwhile, Carla plans a ceremony to renew her wedding vows, but Patrick takes a turn for the worse. As their husbands begin to disappear into dementia, Linda and Carla grow closer. Their friendship and their connection to the support group help them deal with their grief, rise to the demands of caregiving, and emerge whole on the other side.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Deirdre Fishel is a director of documentaries and dramas that have been broadcast in 35 countries worldwide. Her latest documentary, Women in Blue (2020) looks at the lives of women officers trying to reform the Minneapolis Police Department in the years leading up to the murder of George Floyd. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens. Deirdre’s Ford and MacArthur Foundation funded documentary Care (2016) looks at the lives of elder care workers and their clients and how America’s care system is failing both. It premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest and was broadcast on America Reframed.
Fishel's other projects include the groundbreaking documentary STILL DOING IT: The Intimate Lives of Women Over 65 which premiered at SXSW, Suicide on Campus a web documentary produced in conjunction with The New York Times Magazine and Risk a dramatic feature which premiered in competition at Sundance. Fishel is a professor and the director of the BFA in Film/Video at the City College of New York.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Even though almost every person will eventually need care or be a caregiver, our ageist, ablest, individualistic society expects each person or family to manage care on their own despite more cries for government and community support.
I was therefore intrigued by the story of Linda Szypula, whose husband Jim has Lewy body dementia (LBD), and Curry Whisenhunt, a Texan truck driver with LBD who started a podcast to disseminate information about LBD and launched a powerful network of online support groups for people with the disease and their spouses. I was particularly moved by the spouses’ support group, where women who were caretaking for their husbands 24/7 were able to laugh, cry, vent, and find sustenance.
I was also inspired by the growing friendship between Linda, a New Jersey science teacher, and Carla Preyer, a devout Christian hairdresser from the west coast, whose warm, bawdy humor always made the group laugh.
One of my goals was to immerse audiences deeply into the lives of people affected by Lewy body dementia and to put a name and a face to a disease that is more common than ALS, MS and muscular dystrophy combined yet has a very low visibility even within the medical community. The other was to show the power of community to provide an antidote to isolation and despair, for those with dementia and those caring for them.
Our observational camera began focusing on the experiences of these two women struggling with the reality that their husbands were beginning to disappear into dementia. Their profound connection with each other and with their support group took center stage.
The willingness and the courage of the people in the film to allow us to record their lives at such difficult moments was a profound gift—to the filmmakers and to the audience.
I believe that sharing these raw experiences can pull audiences deep into the truths of dementia and caregiving and can highlight the message that no one should attempt to do this alone. We need family and friends, we need community networks and we need government support. 30% of caregivers die before the person they are caring for. That’s how hard caregiving can be.
Facing the Wind is not an easy film, but it is a love story. It’s a love story about women trying to do anything in their power to help their beloved husbands live fully. It’s also a love story about a friendship between two women from different coasts that sustains them through their darkest days and helps them emerge whole on the other side.
– Deirdre Fishel, Director [October 2024]
OFFICIAL WEBSITE & SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
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