My Father's House, A Journey of Love and Memory (2015)

A love letter to her father, Hannah Reimann's self-produced film came to be from the need to connect with him and her own feelings of loss as his 'consciousness was fading away.' Shot over three years in suburban New Jersey and Maine, the film shows the progression of dementia in a brilliant physician who retains the ability to describe the disease as it seizes him while he is cared for by his two daughters and Korean housekeeper. Mysteriously, flashbacks of the death of his beloved Korean wife, Hannah's mother, re-emerge on his deathbed, especially poignant footage because he was driving the car that killed her 18 years prior. 'Stop the car!' he shouts from his bed until he sees her, for the first time since the accident, beside him. Is it a mental delusion or her spririt? A haunting, tender and touching look into the life of a family deeply affected by dementia and memory loss whose love and loyalty to each other tempers and softens the pain and struggle associated with these illnesses. With music played by renowned violinist Ani Kavafian, violist Paul Coletti and Reimann who also scored the film, it is a long visual poem whose star shines brightly and with humor as Dr. Reimann says his long goodbye to his family. A loving tribute to all dementia patients and their families.