"The Silver Mirror"- A Global Feature Documentary Film on Ageing

Sponsored by Herbert W. Hoover Foundation as part of a collaborative grant with Kent State University (Stark), the Arnold Center for Confluent Media Studies at the University of Miami initiated its Ageing Project in 2009. As a cross-disciplinary educational media campaign this initiative includes the production of a global feature-length documentary film for potential broadcast and/or theatrical release as well as an online platform to explore and trigger discussions regarding the possibility, reasons, and impacts of increasing the human life/health span through scientific intervention.

Based on leading edge work by distinguished scientists and researchers such as Noble prize Laureate Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, Dr. Leonard Guarente from MIT, Dr. Cynthia Kenyon from UCSF, Dr. David Sinclair from Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Thomas Kirkwood from Newcastle University, this project seeks to cover related topics including reasons for longevity, selection pressures, preserved longevity pathways, caloric restriction, longevity genes, etcetera. It also follows various highly visual stories about several centenarians in Sardinia, Italy, and Okinawa, Japan, whose lives, memories, love, family, and curiosity give us an opportunity to ponder about “what that special thing is” which makes life worth living longer—something that Japanese call “Ikigai.” This project also shares expert interviews and investigates the potential implications that increasing the human life/health span has on population, the environment, resources, the healthcare system, and generational succession in diverse ecologic and ethnographic groups.

The project challenges societies and health providers to meet the needs of elderly people through increased training for health professionals on old-age care, preventing and managing age-associated chronic diseases, designing sustainable policies on long-term care, and developing age-friendly services and settings.

Click on video below to watch The Silver Mirror movie trailer

Visit the Arnold Center for Confluent Media Studies website.