Private Project

EDITH+EDDIE

Edith and Eddie, ages 96 and 95, are America's oldest interracial newlyweds. Their love story is disrupted by a family feud that threatens to tear the couple apart.

  • Laura Checkoway
    Director, Editor and Producer
    LUCKY
  • Thomas Lee Wright
    Producer
    LAST FLAG FLYING
  • Karina Rotenstein
    Co-producer
  • P. Corwin Lamm
    Co-producer and Editor
  • Neil Barrett
    Cinematographer
  • John Larson
    Cinematographer
  • Steve James
    Executive Producers
    HOOP DREAMS, THE INTERRUPTERS, LIFE ITSELF, ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL
  • Gordon Quinn
    Executive Producers
    HOOP DREAMS, A GOOD MAN
  • Betsy Steinberg
    Executive Producers
    ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL
  • Cher
    Executive Producers
    MOONSTRUCK, SILKWOOD
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Romance, social issues
  • Runtime:
    29 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 2, 2017
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • IDA Awards
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Winner: Best Short Documentary
  • True/False Film Festival
    Columbia, MO
    United States
    March 2, 2017
    World Premiere
  • Montclair Film Festival
    Montclair, New Jersey
    United States
    April 30, 2017
    New Jersey
    WINNER: Audience Award for Best Short Documentary
  • Hot Docs
    Toronto, Ontario
    Canada
    May 2, 2017
    International premiere
    In Competition for Best Documentary Short
  • Sheffield Doc/Fest
    Sheffield
    United Kingdom
    June 11, 2017
    European premiere
    Honorable Mention, Jury Award for Best Short Doc
  • AFI DOCS
    Washington, D.C.
    United States
    June 16, 2017
    Washington DC premiere
    Selected for AFI DOCS Impact Lab
  • Palm Springs Shorts Fest
    Palm Springs, CA
    United States
    June 22, 2017
    California premiere
    WINNER: Best Documentary
  • DokuFest Kosovo
    Prizren
    Kosovo
    August 8, 2017
    Eastern Europe
  • Rhode Island International Film Festival
    Providence
    United States
    August 10, 2017
    Rhode Island premiere
    WINNER: Youth Jury Award for Best Documentary
  • Nevada City Film Festival
    Nevada City, CA
    United States
    September 10, 2017
  • Legacy Film Festival on Aging
    San Francisco, CA
    United States
    September 15, 2017
    San Francisco
  • Camden International Film Festival
    Camden, Maine
    United States
    September 17, 2017
    Maine premiere
    Shortlisted for the Cinema Eye Honors Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking
  • Hamptons International Film Festival
    Hamptons, NY
    United States
    October 7, 2017
    New York premiere
    In competition
  • Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
    Hot Springs, AK
    United States
    October 9, 2017
    Arkansas premiere
  • New Orleans Film Festival
    New Orleans, LA
    United States
    October 14, 2017
    Louisiana premiere
  • Unorthodocs Festival
    Columbus, OH
    United States
    October 20, 2017
    Ohio premiere
  • Tallgrass Film Festival
    Wichita, KS
    United States
    October 18, 2017
    Kansas premiere
  • Chicago International Film Festival
    Chicago, IL
    United States
    October 22, 2017
    Illinois premiere
  • CamerImage
    Bydgoszcz
    Poland
    November 13, 2017
    Poland premiere
  • Riga International Film Festival 2ANNAS 2017
    Riga
    Latvia
    November 30, 2017
    Latvia premiere
  • London Short Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    January 12, 2018
    London premiere
  • FlickerFest International Short Film Festival
    Sydney
    Australia
    January 14, 2018
    Australia premiere
Distribution Information
  • Kartemquin Films
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography

Laura Checkoway's award-winning debut film LUCKY is executive produced by Steve James and has screened at festivals across the globe. The film is currently being broadcast on DirecTV. WIth a background in journalism, Laura penned revealing celebrity profiles and investigative features for numerous publications and co-authored the acclaimed book My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy (Simon & Schuster) as well as the New York Times Best Seller My Voice: A Memoir by Angie Martinez (Celebra/Penguin Random House).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

What led you to pursue documentary filmmaking?
My background is as a journalist, and I wrote a magazine piece about a young woman named Lucky Torres whose spirit and story inspired me to start filming. Sharing stories visually in people’s own voices felt like less of a filter. That became my first film, LUCKY (2013), and I fell in love with filmmaking.

What inspired you to tell this story?
Edith and Eddie’s love touched me immediately—they were newlyweds who had gotten married at ages 95 and 96! Then when things took a dark turn, it went from inspiring to crucial to tell this story.

How did you find the subject(s) in your film?
A friend texted me a photo of Edith and Eddie that had gone viral when they got married. I kept looking at the photo and wanted to know more about them. I connected the dots to their family and they invited me to Virginia to meet them. I got on a bus from New York and the opening scene of the film with the two of them dancing is the first time I met them.

What was a particular obstacle you faced while making the film?
When Edith was taken away and isolated — it shifted everything. I felt compelled to find out more about legal guardianship abuse and to do justice to Edith and Eddie.

What do you want audiences to walk away with after screening your film?
The film is like a warning cry. Audiences at screenings so far have had a lot of questions about how what we witness in the film could happen. People have contacted us saying that it ignited them to go home and speak with their own families. So that is a great starting point. There are too many other stories like this one — guardianship abuse is an underreported issue in need of urgent reform and we hope the film can spark awareness and political action. We hope that the film will be a motivator for people who want to protect elders, including legislators.

Why are documentary films important today?
To continue to expand our views and bring us closer to the truth.