Fading – A compelling local film creating awareness about memory loss

Some days ago, Leisure Cinemas screened Fading, a performance documentary and I’m told that it had sold out within two hours on ticket issue day.  

The Gibraltar Alzheimer’s & Dementia Society (GADS) has very strong support across our community because of the number of people suffering from memory decline, and their families, who support the society in their sterling work creating awareness and helping those patients and their loved ones. 

Fading is a powerful documentary film about Alzheimer’s disease, produced by Dale Moreno of Dale James Media, whose passion is creating such films.  

This one has an inspired collaboration with The Movement Collective, a dance studio whose three performances depicting memory loss through movement hammered home the dramatic message of how a dementia sufferer fades.  

The main structure of the film has interludes of dance in between three riveting interviews, curated by GADS, from the powerful and moving stories told by Henry and Priscilla Sacramento, Jeanette Ochello and Jenny Mascarenhas.  

It’s not for me to go into the details of the interviews and steal the participants’ thunder. 

I know from Dale Moreno and Jeanette Ochello that another cinema screening might be on the cards very soon, as could a possible TV screening later by GBC.  

Whatever the outcome, it can only be positive because this film certainly deserves to be seen by many. 

Let’s be clear, my own preference would be to see it once again on the big cinema screen where, just by the word-of-mouth praise from those who saw the premiere last week, the film would receive more well-deserved plaudits for sensitively addressing memory loss patients and the toll on their families.  

The message to take home from Fading is one of hope and the need for resilience in the face of seeing a loved one blighted by the onset and development of Alzheimer’s. 

Following the end of the film, GADS Chair Jeanette Ochello thanked the team involved and called them down to the front where they and Odette Benatar from Leisure Cinemas were presented with bouquets. 

Acknowledging the rapturous applause and fighting her own emotions, Jeanette thanked them all and explained how the development of the film came about.  

She particularly thanked her husband, her sister, and her dad for their unconditional support throughout very difficult times. 

She also thanked Henry and Priscilla Sacramento and Jennifer Mascarenhas for their testimonial interviews which, alongside her personal contribution, formed the backbone of the film’s dramatic content. 

The acclaim, which has been evident in many media posts on the days after the premiere, is thoroughly well deserved so as soon as the next screening is announced, get your tickets because they will quickly sell out again. 

Congratulations to the talented team who helped make this performance documentary possible and I wish GADS every success in bringing memory loss to public attention. 

We all have a part to play by supporting the society in their efforts to create more awareness about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.