1-hour doco exploring half a century of data from the world-leading Dunedin Longitudinal Study
answering the question of how and why we age.
SYNOPSIS
Alarmed by her mother and grandmother’s advancing age, a young filmmaker embarks on a journey to explore the world’s most influential and long-running experiment on human development: the Dunedin Longitudinal Study.
Over five decades, this groundbreaking and world-leading research has tracked the lives of 1,000 individuals, revealing a startling truth - some of us are in fact aging much faster than others, and it extends far beyond physical appearance.
New technologies and interventions emerging from this research may offer us the chance to age more healthily, more equitably, and unlock a better future for all.
FILMMAKER STATEMENT
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about aging, especially after visiting India to make the most of the time I have left with my grandmother. So, when my producer, Mark, mentioned this project and how the Dunedin Study has shown that some of us are aging faster than others, I was immediately drawn to the subject.
How could that be possible? And what can we do about it?
The more I learned about the study, the more I became immersed in its decades of data. At first, it seemed like many aspects of our health are beyond our control - class, the environment, our genetics. But when you look closer, you realize our destiny is in our own hands - our collective hands.
As Prof. Will says in the documentary, we’re a young country, there's a lot of potential for us to improve outcomes for everyone. But it depends, we’ll reap the seeds we sow.
I hope this documentary helps us see that we can plant the seeds for a better future, starting today.
INFORMATION
Running Time: 44:30 minutes
Country of Production: New Zealand
Directed By: Ankita Singh
Produced By: Mark McNeill
Production Company: Razor Films
Edited by: Jack Woon
Cinematographer: Daryl J Wong
