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FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield’s Jewish Senior Services will host a special screening of a new documentary by Weston native David Gaynes on Wednesday at Bridgeport's Bijou Theatre.
The film, “Next Year Jerusalem,” tells the story of a group of eight Jewish Senior Services residents who took a trip to Israel to visit their cultural homeland.
“It is a celebration of human experience and a reverent tribute to life's eldest travelers,” the film’s website reads.
The film is Gaynes’ third overall, and his second featuring Jewish Senior Services. His 2002 documentary, “More Than Skin Deep,” showed his subjects’ during their weekly beauty appointments at what was then the Jewish Home for the Elderly as they discussed their feelings about aging.
“I am fascinated with exploring the subtle distinctions between living and dying,” Gaynes wrote in a “director’s statement.” “Framed by the story of elderly people going on one last adventure, I found a vehicle to pose existential questions in subtle ways: at one moment a reflection on the vain struggle to capture experiences in a photograph, in another the frustrated refusal to accept mediocre hospital food.”
“Next Year Jerusalem” debuted at the Sarasota Film Festival in April. Wednesday’s screening is the last of a series of special pre-release screenings in the Fairfield area.
Gaynes and some of the residents featured in the film will participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening. A cocktail hour will also take place before the film, where attendees can meet the principals.
The screening will take place at the Bijou Theatre, 275 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport. The cocktail hour begins at 6 p.m., followed by the film at 7 p.m.
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