Aging / Gerontology

A beautiful and poetic film about the last remaining Jews in Birobidzhan, the world's first Jewish autonomous region, established in a distant corner of Siberia in the 1920s.

In a sleepy Hungarian village, after the First World War, a series of arsenic murders took place. Over 140 bodies were discovered. The victims, all men, were apparently killed by their wives.

In this documentary about lesbian love, five elderly Swedish women, ages sixty to seventy-five, discuss their lives during a period when homosexuality was considered a perversion.

In Just Ordinary Days, Cindy, a 47-year-old woman with terminal cancer, discussed her imminent death. Three years later, the people closest to her present the next chapter in her story. Supported by health-care professionals and members of the clergy, Cindy’s family members and friends talk about what her loss has meant to them, how they are coping with that loss, and how they have found ways to keep her in their lives.

This video features an interview with Dr. Alexander lief, a gerontology specialist at Harvard University and the Massachusetts General Hospital, who discusses his on-location study of the people living in the Andean village of Vilcabamba in Ecuador.

Dr. Robert Butler, a psychiatrist and specialist in gerontology, discusses the ways in which American society compartmentalizes people into age groups and discriminates aginst its senior citizens, who often face neglect, a lack of emotional and intellectual stimulation and economic hardship.

Profiles actor, comedian, impersonator and variety performer Sid Raymond, in the process challenging the assumption that celebrity defines success.

Examines the impact of AIDS within Hispanic-American communities, focusing on the specific economic, social and cultural factors which influence perception of the AIDS crisis, including macho attitudes about sexuality, traditional relations between men and women, prejudices against homosexuality, and the prevalence of drug abuse.

Examines the rapid spread of the AIDS epidemic in Africa, focusing on the small nation of Rwanda.

Examines the plight of babies born with AIDS, focusing on the inspiring examples of dedicated caregivers such as Mother Hale, founder of Hale House in New York City, and Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-ross, filmed at her House of Peace in West Virginia.

This video features an interview with Walter M. Bortz, M.D., author of the best-selling book, We Live Too Short and Die Too Long. Bortz, a clinical associate professor at the Stanford University Medical School and former Chair of the American Geriatrics Society, contends in this video that living to the age of 100, and even beyond, is natural.

This video on the longevity revolution profiles pioneering seniors who are actively challenging stereotypes about retirement and a passive old age.