On May 31st we held a very special screening of Grains of Sand in the beautiful “Blaues Pferd” farmhouse, near Zehdenick, Germany, where Barbara and Margot meet up every year in the film. It was a magical evening!
We filled the barn! Tears and laughter as we moved through eight years of our lives on screen. It was the first – and perhaps only – time that co-stars and close friends Margot and Barbara were able to present the film together. At 88, they now remember the years filming as a time gone by. Below, cinematographer Mies Rogmans irons the DIY cloth screen before its installation in the barn.
The screening at the farmhouse was the first of a series of special screenings we are planning for this fall, both in Germany and in the U.S. Making a personal film over eight years can be lonely at times – but bringing this same film to live audiences, to share stories, laughter and tears, makes it all worthwhile.
Of course everyone of us is aging every day, but we don’t often talk about it.
It is our hope that through these community screenings, audiences will recognize how many stories around aging we all have to share, and how such conversations can bring us closer.