Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a devastating diagnosis, Alice and her family find their bonds tested.
Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to "know trouble" first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion, he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.
In this story set at a seaside fishing village and inspired by a Charles Kingsley poem, a young couple's happy life is turned about by an accident. The husband, although saved from drowning, loses his memory. A child is on the way, and soon a daughter is born to his wife. We watch the passage of time, as his daughter matures and his wife ages. The daughter becomes a lovely young woman, herself ready for marriage. One day on the beach, the familiarity of the sea and the surroundings triggers a return of her father's memory, and we are reminded that although people age and change, the sea and the ways of the fisherfolk remain eternal.
The wedding of Ellen and David is halted by a stranger who insists that the bride is already married to someone else. Though the flabbergasted Ellen denies the charge, the interloper produces enough evidence that his accusation must be investigated. Ellen and David travel to the small coastal town where her first wedding allegedly occurred. There, they meet a number of individuals whose stories make Ellen question her own sanity.
Mel Schwartz escaped the Great Depression on a bicycle adventure he'd remember for the rest of his life... until Mel lost his memory to Alzheimer's. Now over seventy-five years later, his grandchildren set out to recreate his life-changing journey and find those memories before they slip away. Cycle of Memory explores the importance of intergenerational connection, healing painful pasts, and leaving a meaningful time capsule for the future.
After losing part of her memory, Maret, 44, sets out to find out who she used to be. She learns about the many different life paths she followed, in none of which anything was ever really achieved. A profoundly unhappy person in a never-ending, headlong rush. A doctor on the island of Lanzarote offers to put this restlessness to an end through brain surgery. A promise of peace and satisfaction. Will Maret proceed with the surgery that would take away part of her being - or not?
The desolation of vast retail spaces is not so far off from the decay of one's memories.
David, a successful therapist, is the creator of a never-before-used method in modern psychology: a device that allows him to alter the most painful memories of his patients. His wife, Lucia, is the victim of a strange disease that will shortly end her life. The solution for David's plight appears in the shape of Sofia, a patient of David's who asks him to use his machine to rewrite her entire life.
A man comes to Stockholm's central station. He does not know who he is or where he has been. He has some keys and a phone number. Perhaps he is the escaped sex maniac the police are searching for. A waitress at a café tries to help him.
Deepa, a schizophrenic patient, loses her normalcy due to a mishap that occurred in her personal life. Dr. Surajit Sen takes this case as a challenge to prove that an injured mind needs more care and a better understanding than any medicine on therapy. The film portrays how the doctor gets intimate with his patient and slowly gets into the detail of her crisis and enables her to lead a normal life.
Just like our memories, the stories we honor tonight were immortalized through a very unique vision of its creators. The winner takes it all.
Pop chronicles the journey of three generations of Meyerowitz men on a road trip from Florida to the Bronx, in exploration of their familial roots. Joel’s father, Hy, is battling Alzheimer’s disease and so they embark on a “quest to see if, along the way, the adventures and experiences we would have could stimulate his now rapidly failing memory.” The film directed and produced by our Joel Meyerowitz. It is touching, funny, poignant, and beautifully captures the strength of intimacy between fathers and sons.
In this 3D animated short we follow the journey of a little Gecko, living inside an Alzheimer’s patient mind, resembling his earliest childhood memory. As the disease progresses, neurons start falling apart and his memories descend from above. The Gecko intuitively tries to catch them before they fade, but there are simply too many for him to save...
Matthew Highton encourages us to celebrate the small moments in life that make us who we are, as he talks about his relationships with his loved ones.
Abraham, a seventy-year-old pianist, receives an invitation to a tribute in his honor. But he's having trouble remembering things. During a visit from Diana and Iris, Abraham tries to remember his most precious composition before it's too late.
After arriving in an unfamiliar park and encountering his best friend, Dawson is having a hard time remembering what led him there. The story follows the two as they unravel the hazy and disorienting past together.
A new-to-town carer forms an unlikely bond with her first patient, an elderly man with onset dementia, and together they find ways to reconcile with their pasts and help each other overcome their sense of loneliness.