Emmy-nominated documentary film editor Sari Gilman, whose credits include Judith Helfand & Daniel B Gold’s BLUE VINYL, Hali Lee & Peter von Ziegesar’s PROM NIGHT IN KANSAS CITY, and Rory Kennedy’s GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB and THE FENCE, among others, is in the process of directing her first documentary feature, a portrait of a 15,000 person strong Floridian retirement community, KINGS POINT.
The film profiles six longtime residents of the Delray Beach enclave, which stipulates a minimum age of 55 for residents, becoming, in effect, a city of seniors. Gilman explores their daily lives, growing older within their own age cohort, separated from family, facing the death of partners and lifelong friends, and the spectre of their own mortality.
Last month, Gilman raised her target of $10,000 through a Kickstarter campaign, with funds going towards post-production. You can keep up with developments via the film’s Facebook page and Twitter.
From the trailer featured on Kickstarter, KINGS POINT promises to feature a number of a distinctive and outspoken subjects who provide not only moments of Sophia Petrillo-like humor, but great insight into aging in America – a topic that is more often than not eschewed. It’s clear that Gilman’s not looking to present a heartwarming look at a bunch of adorable oldsters but instead to present a more layered examination of their lives in various facets – exploring friendships, love, illness, mortality, and the frankly unusual situation of age-segregated living that America has championed for so long for seniors – this latter subject has my interest piqued most of all.
what (not) to doc 