More Details

Summary:

What happens when love runs out of time? For 92-year-old Mimi, who has spent much of her life caring for 64-year-old Dona, her daughter with an intellectual disability, it means facing the inevitable -- the likelihood that she will not outlive her daughter and the need to find her a new home. Filmmaker Sophie Sartain, Mimi and Dona's granddaughter and niece, respectively, captures the quirky and deeply connected mother-daughter duo at their most poignant crossroads. Since Mimi Thornton's husband died in 1968, she has lived with her daughter Dona in their suburban home in Dallas. The cognitively challenged Dona has possibly undiagnosed autism, but over many years, Mimi and Dona carved out a happy life for themselves, one filled with errands, church, weekly visits to the beauty parlor, and nightly doses of Wheel of Fortune. Frozen in time, they have lived off their Social Security checks, inside the same home, for forty years. But Mimi and Dona's symbiotic existence is about to come to a crashing halt. In part worried for her safety, as well as dealing with the reality of aging, Mimi's family has made the agonizing decision that she can no longer care for Dona, and Dona must leave home to live in a state-run facility in nearby Denton, Texas. After 64 years, Mimi will have an empty nest and Dona will suddenly be away from home. In this powerfully personal documentary, Sartain chronicles the painful process of separating her aunt and grandmother. She also interviews her own mother (Dona's sister) and other family members, reaching back to explore the complicated legacy of Dona's disability on three generations of her Texas family as well as its history of family members with mental and developmental disabilities. Ultimately, family bonds run deep and true, even when faced with the greatest challenge yet.

Contributors:

Sartain, Sophie , film director

New Day Films (Firm) , dst

Kanopy (Firm) , dst

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Subjects:

Mothers and daughters

Parents of children with disabilities

People with disabilities — Care

People with disabilities — Housing

Developmentally disabled

Aging parents

Adult children of aging parents

Genres:

Documentary films

Internet videos

Online media

System Details:

Digital format: System requirements: Adobe Flash or equivalent.

General Notes:

Streaming media.
Title from title frames.
Restricted to the University of North Texas System.
Originally produced by New Day Films in 2015.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 video file (57 min.)) : sound

Audio Characteristics:

digital

Digital Characteristics:

video file; MPEG-4; Flash

Call Numbers:

Online Video

Other Standard Numbers:

Publisher Number, Kanopy: 1271070

OCLC Numbers:

980597890

Other Control Numbers:

[Unknown Type]: kan1271070