Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying (2024)
A film by Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies
Produced by Alicia Smith
National Film Board North West Studio
Set to release in Spring 2024
Synopsis:
Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying is a short animated film narrated by Edith Almadi, a 90-year-old Hungarian Canadian living in a personal care home in Winnipeg. Through the act of drawing and remembering, Edith connects to her late son in a way that both holds and transcends grief at once.
still images from Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying
Directors Statement:
For nearly ten years, Natalie and I have led an art program at a personal care home in our neighbourhood.
The program is a way to tell stories and connect with residents while nurturing the development of expressive and personal visual styles. This is where we met Edith Almadi, a Hungarian immigrant in her late eighties. Through the years we have developed a unique friendship with Edith over many art making mornings, art shows, friendly visits and drawings made together.
Our initial motivation for interviewing Edith was to save memories for ourselves – we find the way she speaks fascinating and poetic. When Edith looks at her drawings, she sees her memories and fantasies. She is able to escape her physical circumstance, through entering her marker and watercolour worlds.
In 2020 we were surprised that when we returned to interview her, the drawings had a different meaning. Pushing art up against the window, Edith was seeing her drawings and life through the lens of her son’s recent death. In the film, Edith explores her own vitality in contrast to her age, reflects on her son’s passing, and finds joy in imagining being reunited with her child and family. The animations are an expression of our shared imagination, incorporating imagery from our minds, Edith’s words, and the drawings we made together.
In our time knowing Edith she has always loved sharing her outlook publicly. As we have developed the film we have shown Edith our progress along the way. She says “That’s me” and “That’s all I have to give” proudly. Facilitating art making in this personal care home has allowed us to meaningfully connect with many people in their last stages of life. As directors, this film gives us the opportunity to share this one particular experience of intimacy found through collaborative art making.
Toby and Natalie interviewing Edith outside her window (2020)