Private Project

The Long Goodbye

The question raises on how the world is going to take in the growing population of people with dementia. How do workers and occupants in elderly homes experience this? This is a documentary about the elderly home Oldeslo, located in The Hague, Netherlands. Among others, I interviewed my grandmother who has beginning dementia.

  • Vanessa van den Akker
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Student
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes 7 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 11, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    250 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Netherlands
  • Country of Filming:
    Netherlands
  • Language:
    Dutch
  • Shooting Format:
    Mp4
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • -
Distribution Information
  • -
Director Biography - Vanessa van den Akker

I am Vanessa and I am 21 years old. Born in 1995 in Amsterdam. I am studying at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.

I started in the arts very young, around four, with drawing and later on painting. A few years later I moved on to acting and at my 12th I made a feature film with my dad and a lot of children from 6th grade. I started at my 19th in the Royal Academy of Art, experimenting as an interaction designer with mixing media: performance and technology. Nowadays I still draw a lot and am busy with learning to make animations. Topics of my movies vary from glorifying the lonely citizen to experimental abstractions. Recently I have shot my first documentary.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The world makes us feel small. Cities are of great magnitude and buildings touch the sky. The system wants you useful, are you going to be a good man? Who are you going to be? We are with so many and you are so small. So you will find yourself walking along with the others, not to be seen. Allowing other people to be in the spotlight, to voice their opinion, to be characters. Following other people's lives: moving like them, talking like them, trying to be them. Show yourself because you are better. I am inviting you to rise above the crowd with me. You are someone, I will show you that you matter.