Kathleen O’Neil was fed up.
“I thought, ‘Kill me now.’”
The director of programs and research for Powell River Educational Services Society, a British Columbia-based nonprofit, was tasked with writing a grant proposal about engaging local seniors in technology.
“I did some research to see if there was anything interesting about older adults and technology,” she said, “and all of the stuff that I came across was written by young 20-year-olds who were saying things like ‘among the aged,’ like we were some kind of weird anthropological study group … That got my dander up. They have no idea what it is to age. Aging is so powerful and so interesting.”
Aging is so powerful and so interesting.
That was the moment when O’Neil decided something must be done—leading her to create a film about aging by those actually living it.
“To get the word out wide and far and loud and clear: It’s not just OK to be old, it’s hip to be old,” she said.
The result was “Hip to be Old,” a film within its own category.
“Instead of portraying the aging population in the typical light – unproductive, sickly, depressing, dependent, out-of-touch, cognitively impaired, incompetent and irrelevant – this film elevates their charisma, wisdom and spunk.”
Society and the mainstream media, she explained, are often focused on what she called the “decline model” of aging. She instead wanted to focus on the “fulfillment model.”
“There are a lot of us out there living this fulfillment model—older adults who are thoroughly enjoying the process of aging, embracing the power and freedom it brings. This group is just quiet; they’re not speaking up.”
The “Hip to be Old” documentary is a timely film that comes at a time when society is looking for a different way to view aging, due to the large aging population of Baby Boomers, an increased attention on the pervasiveness and destructiveness of ageism, and a general increase in demand for inclusivity.
The film is set in the city of Powell River, British Columbia, and the surrounding qathet Regional District, which together are home to just more than 20,000 people. Located within the traditional lands of Tla’amin First Nation, this remote community, accessible only by air or ferry, is found north of Vancouver and bordered by forests, mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
The film interviews a series of citizens located in the region who have ignored the ageist messages that riddle the mainstream media. Inspiring and interesting, the people are living truly authentic lives, O’Neil said, and she hopes their message will change the inner dialogue of younger people.
“Yes, there’s a level of disregard and disrespect, but also young people are potentially impoverishing their own future,” she said. “They’re rejecting the value of experiences that are yet to come. And that seems really sad to me … Young people are losing out on something that’s really worthwhile, human, generous in spirit, about aging, you know—that sense of humor, sense of proportion, compassion, courage in the face of all the things that are coming at you, the complexity of just being in the world that increases as you get older.”
The website built to promote “Hip to be Old” hopes to use the film as a way to celebrate the refreshing diversity of older people and their appreciation for the genuine inner freedom and self-awareness that aging can bring:
“We live in a world obsessed by youth and fearful of aging,” it reads. “But growing older has given many of us the chance to leave behind patterns of behavior that didn’t serve us, to adopt new ways of relating to ourselves and the world, to explore our hidden talents, to pursue secret and long cherished dreams, and to finally take hold of what is authentic and valuable in ourselves.”
The full film is not currently available to the general public, but O’Neil is working with various universities, media outlets, and other institutions to plan ways in which to bring the film to a broad public audience in a strategic way to have a meaningful and provocative social impact. She said she has high expectations the film will become a “cult classic.”
For now, view the trailer on the film’s website, and contact O’Neil through the site with any inquiries.