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Title: George & Dorothy
Runtime: 12 min
Country: USA
Director: A.P. Gonzalez
Placement: Award of Excellence + Best Actress (Tina D’Marco)
Competition: June, 2023
Synopsis: The film opens at an upscale Care Facility. Through glass doors, George, a large man, once a professional athlete, watches other residents in the garden being visited by friends and relatives. George sits in his wheelchair anxiously awaiting his grandson who doesn’t show up. In time, the garden on the other side of the glass is empty as George, in his wheelchair, sits alone, sad and frustrated.
Hours later, as George sits in the facility’s beautiful garden, his anger rises when Dorothy, a cheerful woman in her mid-seventies, approaches. He knows her and doesn’t want anything to do with her. He exclaims in anger, “You gonna sell me Jesus or salvation or something?” Dorothy answers him with a smile, “I sell nothing. I give it away.” This is the beginning of a spirited conversation that takes us from anger, through challenge, humor, vulnerability to insight.
Dorothy’s skillful approach opens George up enough for him to tell her a story about a time in his younger life when jogging up a hill in his old neighborhood. He came across a MOTHER and BABY playing with echoes in an empty mailbox. For a beautiful moment, George had experienced an overwhelming joy, understanding everything at once. The flashback, a flight of fancy, helps George to recall the cyclical nature of LIFE as Dorothy reminds him, “Remember your beautiful moment, George. Choose to love.”