Familiar Touch (12A)

Familiar Touch is a coming-of-old-age film following an older woman's transition into assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship with herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires.

Ruth Goldman (Kathleen Chalfant), an older woman with dementia, leaves her home for a date. But what she thinks is a hotel turns out to be an assisted living facility, and she must contend with an array of new faces, routines, and surroundings as her own identities and desires shift.

Inspired by writer/director Sarah Friedland‘s work as a memory care worker and teaching artist to older adults, Familiar Touch is an intergenerational production made in collaboration with the residents and care workers at a Los Angeles retirement community. The groundbreaking coming-of-old-age narrative is rooted in Ruth’s perspective – underscoring how, even as Ruth’s world transforms, she remains herself.

Contains infrequent strong language