One of the producers of this feature-length documentary is the Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, who won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 for Shoplifters. He experienced Alzheimer’s disease with his grandfather without really knowing what it was at the time. Although the 2023 Best Screenplay winner at Cannes for Monster was not currently in the Landes, his team filmed at the Henri Emmanuelli Village for eight days in mid-July, accompanied by coordinator and interpreter Akiko Kobayashi, who has been working in Paris for 20 years, notably for NHK.
200 Media Requests, Half International
"In Japan, around 30% of the population is elderly, and it is estimated that one-fifth could develop a form of dementia," explains co-producer Naoki Morita. "We want to show the interesting work being done here, particularly the respect for previous lifestyles, and the freedom to continue personal habits according to individual tastes and preferences, like this lady who enjoys cooking." That day, journalists had followed Brigitte, a resident preparing her fruit salad in her shared house in the Bas-Armagnac district. Innovative therapeutic practices with the research center, personalized support, social connections with the town's residents, and the work of volunteers—everything will be detailed in this 59-minute documentary, which will be split between the VLA and a classic establishment in Japan.
Japanese teams had already come to Dax to make shorter news reports on the Village. And they are far from the only ones. Since its opening in 2020, around 200 different media requests, half of them international, have been made. "This is a societal issue all over the world, and the number of requests is unusually high compared to other projects," says Mathilde Charon-Burnel, who manages major social and medical projects at the Landes Departmental Council.
Visits for projects all over the world and in France
This media interest is also shared by professionals from institutions, both private and public, worldwide, such as from Portugal, Switzerland, Australia, the United States, and even members of an NGO (non-governmental organization) from Tajikistan. "Most are private structures looking to rethink, remodel, and improve their institutions," the project manager points out. Often, they tour Europe, including a stop in the Netherlands at the Hogeweyk center, which gave Henri Emmanuelli the idea to create the Village after reading an article in Le Monde.
