For four years, Wellington filmmaker Gwen Isaac documented the Lee family after Margaret (wife of Stephen and mother of Imogen) was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The resulting documentary Where There is Life is screening from 19th October at Dunedin's Metro Cinema. On the 21st October Gwen Isaac will be in attendance for a question and answer session.
Where There is Life was selected to be part of the 2017 New Zealand International Film Festival, the panel remarked that "Isaac's film is often startling in its candour".
Isaac says she first met Margaret at the gym.
"She was having her leaving do, and I asked a mutual friend why this lady was having a leaving do. And I discovered she had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given two years to live."
She immediately offered her services as a filmmaker, suggesting a small film for the then-10-year-old Imogen to remember her mother with.
Isaac went on to visit weekly for the next four years.
To begin with, Margaret was mobile and well enough to chat so they did a lot of getting to know each other.
As Margaret became more unwell, she took to her bed and lost her ability to speak.
Two years later when Steven left his job and became Margaret's primary caregiver he became the subject of the film.
"You sort of get to know [Margaret] in reverse, but really it's Steven's journey through the art of caregiving in their marriage, a very intimate portrayal of a marriage. And then, of course, their ten-year-old daughter reacting to whats happening around her.
When Isaac began work on the film, her own daughter was small and her husband was travelling with work a lot so she needed a project that could fit around her. The film was financed by her husband who believed in the story.
She says Margaret was also very encouraging to her.
"At times I was quite despondent about if I had the trappings of a film. I just knew I loved hanging out with her and I got a lot of soul food from that and her and I had some laughs."
Where There is Life traverses the right to die issue, but not overtly, Isaac says.
"If you put yourself in Stephen's shoes or Margaret's shoes you're going to have an opinion about if somebody should have the choice to take their own lives under these circumstances."
She admits, even now after several screenings with audiences, she is nervous about their reactions.
"Some of the footage is very hard-hitting and for some of those who've seen it, it really cuts to the bone as it mimics some of their own experiences caring for their loved ones. There are some controversial points in there too, so the questions and answer sessions at the end have been lively affairs."
Gwen feels emboldened by audience reactions so far.
"One man in the Hutt Valley in gumboots and stubbies came up to me after a screening and said 'I'm a cynical man, but your film moved me to tears".
Where There is Life will also be screening in selected cinemas nation-wide until the end of the year.
- Gwen Isaac
