On Monday 17 November, as part of our Dementia-Friendly Sunshine Social Club, we hosted a screening of The Demented Poets, a documentary by filmmaker Ian Bustard featuring the late Ron Coleman. The film was a powerful reminder that people can live well with dementia.
After the screening, the post-film Q&A sparked honest and challenging conversations about dementia stigma. While Scotland is leading the way in rethinking dementia, the discussion made it clear that much more needs to be done on a larger scale, especially in how dementia is represented on TV and in media. Often, stories or storylines reduce people to a diagnosis instead of recognising their ongoing humanity, agency, and individuality and start from the end point without ever acknowledging the life ongoing.
A key point that resonated is the role of Meeting Centres Scotland that play a quiet but perfectly placed role in normalising the dementia experience, offering safe, supportive spaces in ordinary every day places where people can simply be themselves among peers.
As part of the event, we also shared the trailer for The F Ward, a new film that Ron had been writing a screen play for and has been considering for a long time now. Ian shared that in the days before Ron’s passing he asked Ian to promise to make this film become a reality, and it has such potential to challenge and expand how dementia can and should portrayed on screen.
If you’re passionate about shifting perceptions, supporting lived experience, and helping create a more truthful, empowering narrative around dementia that steers clear of the recent ‘dying a new death every day’ narrative, then please contribute to The F Ward Crowdfunder. in recent national charity advert then please contribute to The F Ward Crowdfunder.
More info about the Crowdfunder: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-f-ward
For film tour tickets across Scotland: https://www.undergroundcinemaclub.org
For more information about NEA’s Sunshine Social Club, click here.
Thanks to Meeting Centres Scotland for their written contribution
Image: Ron Coleman in a scene from the Demented Poets film. Ian Bustard/PA Wire
