Tom Kurlander is director of "21 Voices: Touched by Alzheimer's." It's a documentary that explores the effects of Alzheimer's on those suffering with the disease as well as their family members.
Two years ago, Tom Kurlander got a phone call: His mother’s doctor was on the line from Florida to let him know that she was in grave danger.
“When I got on the plane I don’t know if I could spell the word ‘Alzheimer’s,’ ” he said, describing the beginning of a trip that would last 38 days. “When I walked through her condo door it was obvious that everything had changed.”
Among the many repercussions of his experience with his mother is a movie that Mr. Kurlander, a documentary filmmaker and actor, is making to share the realities of this debilitating condition of dementia.
After the experience getting his mother unwillingly moved into an assisted living facility, Mr. Kurlander founded a nonprofit organization called 21 Voices along with Linda Massaro, who lost her father, construction executive Joseph Massaro, to Alzheimer’s disease in December. The organization is raising money to make a documentary, tentatively titled “21 Voices: Touched by Alzheimer’s,” to spread awareness of the disease.
The film will feature interviews with 21 people with differing perspectives on the disease, such as Oscar Lopez, director of the Alzheimer Disease Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh.
“My intention is to make the coolest science film that anyone’s seen,” said Mr. Kurlander, who has made other documentary films. He was also an actor in Los Angeles for many years, appearing in films such as “Kindergarten Cop” and “Young Guns II.” His brother is television and film producer Carl Kurlander, who has also helped with their mother’s care.
The project is in the fundraising stage — Mr. Kurlander estimates that it will require a budget of $218,000. He has attracted major sponsors to fundraising concerts for the film — two rock symphonies that have drawn support from Howard Hanna, Presbyterian SeniorCare network, Massaro and CooksonPeirce Wealth Management.
It is the most ambitious film that Mr. Kurlander has ever attempted, and he is aiming high: When it is completed, he plans to enter it into film festivals such as Sundance and Tribeca.
He views the film as something he wished was there when he was confronting his mother’s crises: In those 38 days she was taken to the emergency room three times. She also had begun wandering — Mr. Kurlander remembers one day when she walked up to a police officer and told him that she didn’t know where she was. His mother is now in an assisted living facility in Cleveland, near his father and within easy driving distance of Pittsburgh.
For the Massaros, the journey with Alzheimer’s disease lasted eight years. Mr. Massaro was diagnosed with the early onset form in 2008, at age 72. In addition to their involvement with 21 Voices, the family also funds the Joseph A. Massaro Jr. Alzheimer’s Research Fund in Pittsburgh.
“We hope that the film will be a beacon of guidance and support,” said Mr. Kurlander. “We want it to be an all-in-one so that when people walk out, they know what they need to know.”
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.21voices.org.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2016/11/29/Film-to-put-spotlight-on-Alzheimer-s-disease/stories/201611290005
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