Frontotemporal Dementia Documentary Returns to the Forefront
It’s been a minute, but the time is finally here. As we move into Spring 2024, our documentary on Frontotemporal Dementia takes center stage, while we keep the GMO Controversy project sitting on the backburner for a little bit longer.
First things first… within a two months or so, we should be launching the new website for the FTD project. It’s simply frontotemporaldementia.org, and you can visit it any time while it’s under construction (you’ll just see a COMING SOON page until it’s officially ready).
We started this documentary way back in late 2005 or early 2006, and it’s been through its share of challenges along the way, no doubt. With me at the helm, living in the land of WE DON’T QUIT UNTIL IT’S DONE (see my first film, PYRITE, over at Hollywood27.com for proof of concept), there never was any doubt in my mind. It was never a question of IF, simply of WHEN.
The project survived a gut-wrenching breakup, a bizarre and inexplicable lack of integrity from a fellow nonprofit who had committed funding to the project and then went dark… and even a little self-indulgent sabotage from Northwestern Hospital in Chicago of all places (we may need to make a documentary ON the documentary by the time we’re done).
I think we’ve dealt with as much drama making this film as the full team over at Hollywood 27 Productions did while making a much more involved drama about racism in Chicago. It’s definitely been a crazy run.
That said, the chaos is also firmly in the rearview as we move forward in 2024 here, and I’m beyond excited to finally push this film to the finish line. I’ve talked about it many times since the day I first learned of what a sinister force frontotemporal dementia is, and our goal with this project has always been, first and foremost, to be there for families as they first learn of what they’re up against with this dreadful disease.
It’s truly unparalleled devastation, and despite some people in the entertainment industry recently being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (Bruce Willis, Wendy Williams), it’s still very under-publicized for the havoc it wreaks on anyone it unfortunately descends upon.
So please click here to visit the new website and learn more, including the completion timeline and how you can get more involved if you so desire.
We’ll also be launching our crowdfunding campaign for Phase 1 right at the same time as the website launches in late Spring here, so I hope you’ll help us knock that first phase out of the park and hit the ground running.
It involves the initial rough edit of the film, which then lets us prepare in earnest for Phase 2, where we hit the road again and film a new round of doctor interviews, etc., to bring everything from the medical treatment side of things (and more) completely up-to-date for 2024-25.
That’s it for now, thanks for reading. I’ll be back later in the year as we make progress.
— Eric
Eric Battersby
President
Change the World Films