Directed by Erin Hudson
Stanford University, USA
From the intimate vantage point of a senior community swimming pool, water and time suspend both body and memory. This film travels underwater and above water to create a gentle meditation on growing old, feeling young, and living life.
Shot on 16mm film in a bright and colorful swimming pool, Afloat vividly captures elderly participants in a water exercise class. With surreal images of underwater movement and delightful swimming pool scenes, the stories told by these swimmers become weightless and ageless memories. Afloat reminds us that childhood and elder-hood are not all that different and that the buoyant and playful feelings we have in the water remain with us our entire life. Ultimately, this film returns beauty, grace and dignity to the reality of growing old.
Category: Documentary
Run-Time: 5:15
School: Stanford University, USA
Year of completion: 2005
Shooting location: Brookdale Woodside Terrace Senior Community Center, Redwood City, CA
Original shooting format: 16mm, color
Screening format: BetaSP (NTSC)
People/Crew
In Memory of Bob Windle
Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor Erin Hudson
With Alice Bunker, Dody Loretz, Armella Wall and Robert Windle
Production Assistance Nick Davila, Leigh Iaccobuci, Revere La Noue
Technical Assistance Katherine Leggett, Leah Wolchok, Mark Urbanek
Music Selection The Tao of Cello by David Darling (used with permission from Valley Entertainment)
Original composition written and performed by Matt Bow
Sound Mix Dan Olmsted
Faculty Advisors Jeffery Friedman and Kris Samuelson
Special Thanks The residents and Staff at Brookdale Woodside Terrace, John Carlson, Tom Campbell, Brian Gallagher, Joel Harris, Mary Hudson, Annie Schowalter and Bob Smith
Filmmaker Bio
Erin Hudson
Erin Hudson has directed and produced three short films: Rotation, Afloat and Unhitched. Unhitched, co-directed with Ben Wu, received a Student Academy Award and won Outstanding Documentary at the Angelus Awards. Erin recently completed Long Haul, a 20-minute documentary about women long haul truck drivers. Erin is currently working as the director of photography for the feature length documentary, Circus Dreams.
[Director's Statement]
This was my third assignment in film school. Knowing in advance I was going to shoot on 16mm film, I wanted to shoot something where film could both enhance and be an integral part of the project.
I came up with the idea of Afloat through my relationship with my 96-year-old grandmother and her experiences of aging. She loves water exercise. I started thinking about how to capture aging in a swimming pool with a gentle lens.
The biggest challenge of this film was to find a pool that had plenty of natural light and, most importantly, 80-90-year-old swimmers willing to let me into their lives and film them in their bathing-suits. After visiting almost every pool in a 50-mile radius of where I live, I arrived at a water exercise class at Brookdale Woodside Terrace Senior Community Center in Redwood City, California. I knew immediately that the film existed there.
After participating in a few classes at the pool and involving myself at the community center, I began asking how the participants in the class would feel if I brought a camera underwater and above water to film them. They loved the idea. The first day I filmed, a few of the women showed up in new bathing suits and painted their toe-nails special for the shoot. They all got a kick watching me work with the camera underwater as I held my breath, submerged underwater, and swam around them. We all had a lot of fun.
After spending my mornings shooting at the pool and afternoons conducting interviews, I became good friends with the swimmers at Brookdale. I grew especially fond of Bob Windle who opens the film. A few months after the completion of the film, Bob’s pre-existing heart condition grew worse and he passed away in September 2005. He is greatly missed.
NextFrame Screening Dates
Aug. 1 - 4, 2006
NEXTFRAME WORLD PREMIERE
Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
Chapman University
Program(s) screening: All Programs
Orange, CA
Web: www.chapman.edu
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Friday, Nov. 3, 2006
Bowling Green State University
Gish Film Theater
Program(s) screening: Award Winners
Bowling Green, OH
Web: www.bgsu.edu
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Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006
Indie Memphis Festival
Program(s) screening: Award Winners, Narrative, Documentary, Animation/Experimental
Memphis, TN
Web: www.deltaaxis.org
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Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006
Eastern Washington University
Program(s) screening: Narrative, Documentary
Cheney, WA
Web: www.ewu.edu
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Friday, Jan. 19, 2007
Grand Valley State University
Program(s) screening: Award Winners
Allendale, MI
Web: www.gvsu.edu
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February 22, 2007
University of North Texas
Program(s) screening: Documentary
Denton, TX
Web: www.unt.edu
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March 2 & 5, 2007
Morehead State University
Breckenridge Hall
Program(s) screening: Award Winners
Morehead, KY
Web: www.moreheadstate.edu
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March 21 - 22, 2007
University of Northern Iowa
Program(s) screening: Narrative, Documentary
Cedar Falls, IA
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March 26, 2007
Flagler College Auditorium
Flagler College
Program(s) screening: Award Winners
St. Augustine, FL
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March 30, 2007
Coolidge Corner Theater
New England Institute of Art
Program(s) screening: Narrative, Documentary, Animation/Experimental
Brookline, MA
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April 19, 2007
Griffith Film School
South Brisbane
Program(s) screening: Narrative, Documentary, Animation/Experimental
Queensland, Australia
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April 20, 2007
St. Olaf College
Program(s) screening: Award Winners
Northfield, MN
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April 27 - May 7, 2007
Cinefest Fairfield
Fairfield University
Program(s) screening: Award Winners
Fairfield, CT
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April/May 2007
University of Tennessee
School of Art
Program(s) screening: Narrative, Documentary, Animation/Experimental
Knoxville, TN
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March/April 2007
Open Student Television Network
Program(s) screening: Documentary, Animation/Experimental
Campuses across the U.S.
For more info: https://ostn.tv/
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May 2007
The Reel
Temple University
Program(s) screening: Award Winners
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Contact: NextFrame
Web: www.temple.edu/nextframe
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Sept 14 - 15, 2007
University of Toledo
Lab Theatre, Center for Performing Arts
Program(s) screening: Documentary, Animation/Experimental
Toledo, OH
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