THE BUBBLE
Documentary l 91min l CH, AT l 2021 l Catpics, Golden Girls Film
Welcome to Florida’s Friendliest Hometown. The Bubble explores senior citizen life within The Villages, America’s largest retirement community; a 32-square mile, sun-drenched, beautifully maintained, gated Floridian paradise housing over 150,000 retirees. Retired life beneath the year-round Floridian sunshine however, is not perhaps as idyllic, or as welcomed, as many ageing Villagers and viewers may imagine. The Bubble reveals how those beyond the community’s sealed gateways are being profoundly displaced by The Villages’ endless desire for land, water, and regional control. Illustrating many of the nation’s most combative dialogues regarding class imbalance, racial inequality, healthcare privatisation, political affiliation, state responsibility, and civic obligation, The Bubble offers viewers an engaging contemplation of American ways of life, ageing, and death.
With (in order of appearance) Toni and Roger Akers, Jeanie and John Ferguson, Lauren Ritchie, Terry Marksberry, Linda Vernon, Toni Hyde, Bill Pownall, Mae Katherine Lee
Written & Directed by Valerie Blankenbyl
Cinematography by Joe Berger
Editing by Nela Märki
Produced by Dario Schoch, Karin C. Berger, Rajko Jazbec, Arash T. Riahi
World Sales Deckert Distribution GmbH
Funded by BKA, Filmstiftung Zürich, Austrian Film Institute, Film Industry Support Austria, ORF Film/Fernseh-Abkommen, SRG, FISS, FISA, Suissimage, MEDIA Ersatz
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WHAT THE MEDIA WRITES ABOUT “THE BUBBLE”
“In the beginning there is laughter, in the end sadness and anger. A masterpiece.” Der Standard
“A seldom pearl in the complex universe of documentary.” Cineman
“Balanced in its focus on both sides of the metaphorical residential fence, the film shows the class imbalance, and the multitude of life choices on one-, and the absence of any on the other side of it. It’s escapism versus survival skills, monetary power versus poverty, wish to defy and deny age versus living life as it comes.”
“The one person who successfully walks in and out of that membrane is the cinematographer Joe Berger with his lensing of two different worlds –the one polished to the maximum, and the other unchanged, beautiful in its wild dominance over humans. Notable is also the original score by Adam Lucas, that brings something of a Tatiesque spirit to the film.”
WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD Interview, November 2021
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
VB: “It is a film about living and aging in a world that doesn’t accept or respect age. This creates spaces that are very separate from one another in many different ways, affecting society, nature, and the culture of whole communities.”
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
VB: “I hope that people think about their own bubbles that they— and all of us— live in and what effects this has on us as a society. I’d like them to question themselves about how many friends they have that aren’t their age. “The Bubble” doesn’t intend to point a finger at anyone who chooses to live in a retirement community. I have a lot of understanding for that decision and I think our audiences will too.”
SRF Swiss Television, Interview, April 2021
SRF: Valerie Blankenbyl, you stayed in The Villages for more than three months while you worked on your documentary “The Bubble”. Which impression did you have of its residents?
Valerie Blankenbyl: I was surprised how fit, healthy and sporty most people are in this retirement community. Everything seems so perfect. And the retirees there are so incredibly content.
How has your idea of older people changed through your work with “The Bubble”?
I realized how much courage and strength this phase of life takes. It inspires me to see how people muster this part of life and to see their courage.
What do you want to achieve with your film?
I don’t want to point a finger at the retirees (…) but I want to show that society is going in the wrong direction. We all should think about how this looks where we are. Do we integrate the older generations? Am I personally in contact with people that aren’t my age? Younger or older.”
