ALIVE INSIDE

Dan Cohen has devoted himself to equipping nursing homes with music, in the fervent belief in its rejuvenating power. His message is that music can serve to confirm our essential, irrepressible, and shared humanity, and his goal is to bring the visceral joy back to the lives of Alzheimer’s patients by unlocking their memories with music from their past. The result can be an astonishingly reawakened sense of self. Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks helps explain the connection between music and the mind.

USA, 2014, 78 minutes, documentary

There will be a post-film discussion with music therapist, Jeffrey Friedberg MT-BC, LCAT; Barbara Bedway, who appears in the film; Sara Weale, MPH, Socail Work Intern at My Second Home – a program of Family Services of Westchester; and Margaret C. Sewell, Ph.D., Director of Education, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

“A gloriously inspirational film documenting music’s healing power in Alzheimer patients.” —Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter

“Practically guaranteed to elicit tears within its first five minutes, Alive Inside. . . is nonetheless more than just a tearjerker.” — Nick Schager, Village Voice

“As detailed in the joyous, unexpectedly uplifting Alive Inside, winner of Sundance’s coveted audience award for U.S. documentary, what Cohen has done is place iPod earphones on these people’s heads and played what family members have told him is their favorite music. The effect is miraculous. — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“Whether it’s purely through the use of music or through the individual, attentive care given by some of the featured nursing home workers, the proof of positive changes presented in Alive Inside provides a sense of idealism amid bleak situations.. ” — Steve Greene, Indiewire.com