The Elders: Time Will Tell

DV Color Documentary, 2006

48 minutes

Producer/Creator/Writer: Tracy German, Jeff Stern, and Marcos Arriaga

With Development and Production funding provided by:

“I guess the project, for me, is we are going to our elders to ask them their wisdom and their insight into their lives. We’re not really looking for anything specific, we are just interested in who you are…”

“So, you’re searchers…”

In their search, the filmmakers have found five main characters, whose interviews make up the bulk of the documentary. Johanna is an outspoken woman, a thinker who has taken on the policies of the Catholic Church, and built Anne Frank House, a home for refugees. Neville is kind teacher who delights in giving his students something beyond book learning. Evelyn is a spiritual woman, combining her Baha’i Faith with her Native American heritage. Burt is an artist “of the researching type,” working to express concepts and philosophies in his painting, and Cicely is the oldest of the characters, full of life and memories at the age of 98.