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In November 1995, my son Sasha and I flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to pick up my father, Hy, who has Alzheimer's disease. We took him on a slow, back road journey up to New York City, where he was born. Although I could articulate the purpose of the trip before it began, the depth of the experience and its real meaning became clearer to me as the trip unfolded. This was to be an odyssey. Three men, three generations of the Meyerowitz family--my father, a retired salesman, myself, a photographer and filmmaker and my son, also a filmmaker, each of us exactly 30 years apart--would travel together from Florida to New York City--to the Bronx actually--where my father had lived most of his life and where I was born. Our quest was to see if along the way the adventures and experiences we would have could stimulate his now rapidly failing memory.
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Pop
In his first film, acclaimed photographer Joel Meyerowitz creates a poignant and indelible portrait of his father, an unpredictable, courageous, and remarkably funny man who somehow manages to make Alzheimer's disease look like another of his many adventures. As the curtain of this disease falls over Hy Meyerowitz, Joel and his son take him on a two-week car trip from Florida back to the New York neighborhood where he raised his family. Relaxed and free enough to say anything that comes to mind, Hy imparts his wisdom to all he meets along the way?wisdom gained from a long life observing human foibles. In the week of Father's Day, the film is a moving tribute to a father from his son and reminds us that the present moment is one of life's real treasures.
The web site will include a short piece on Hy Meyerowitz's life and career; links on Alzheimer's disease; and excerpts from radio interviews with Joel Meyerowitz about making the film with his son and father. published june 1999
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