Changing the Conversation Around Aging: Then and Now in Film

Join the Center for Gerontology for a thoughtful and entertaining discussion with Jim Vanden Bosch, founder and Executive Director of Terra Nova Films. Jim will present film segments from beloved movies produced 50 years apart – “Harold and Maude” (1971) and “Thelma” (2024) together with clips from documentaries, illuminating how conversations about aging have changed. Or…have they?

Thanks to sponsorship from Russell and Josephine Kott Memorial Charitable Trust, the Center for Gerontology has worked with the National Center to Reframe Aging to change the conversation around growing older for over 10 years. While media has rightly been critiqued for promoting negative or inaccurate images of aging, film also has a unique ability to highlight opportunities to reframe images, opinions and language about growing older. Please come and add your voice to the conversation!