Stacy NagaiThe California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF) is partnering with Chapman University’s School of Pharmacy and the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts to present a special screening of Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory, including a panel discussion and Q&A.
The 2014 film, directed and produced by Michael Rossato-Bennett, explores the transformative impact of music on people living with a diagnosis of dementia or other cognitive disorders. The award winning documentary follows the journey of social worker Dan Cohen, creator of the national Music & Memory® program which helps non-verbal dementia patients re-ignite positive memories as they listen to familiar songs from their past. Watch the trailer here.
Alive Inside won the Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and multiple critics have sang its praises, including Indiewire’s Steve Greene who stated, “Alive Inside provides a sense of idealism amid bleak situations. When discussing the impact of music on an environment so often typified by isolation, one of the patients describes his desire for freedom.”
The screening is open to the Chapman University community and the general public; seating is based on a first-come, first-served basis. The panel following the film will include: Dean of the Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Ron Jordan; Co-Director UCI Mind, Joshua Grill, Ph.D.; Alzheimer’s Orange County Vice President of Advocacy and Outreach, Patty Mouton, and representatives from local Music & Memory programs.
The film will be shown at 6:30 pm, Friday, January 26 in the Folino Theater at Marion Knott Studios, 283 N. Cypress Street, Orange.
Created in 2008, the Music & Memory program provides personalized music to people with dementia in thousands of long-term care facilities in the U.S. and Canada. In California, a $1.4 million state grant administered by CAHF, is delivering the program to 300 skilled nursing homes, providing personalized music to more than 4,000 patients.
Alive Inside is certainly eye opening and important for people to see just how magical music can be. This video inspired me 5 years ago to create LifeSongs recordable books. You can tell a person’s life story through photos and 12 of their favorite songs. Great for reminiscing, educating caregivers, soothing a person and starting conversations. They are only $29.99 at LifeSongs.info with 30% discount for group orders!