About the film

In Optics of Aging stereotypes of ageism are confronted and the beauty of aging is revealed through five Rhode Island elders who have shaped the landscape of Rhode Island and beyond. Their voices take flight against the backdrop of archival imagery that captures the vision of an earlier time.

Optics of Aging takes on the realities of aging and ageism through simple, personal stories of elders. While certain physical limitations are real as we age, there are many faculties that strengthen and often people report the older years as being the happiest years of their lives. Stereotypes not only have the effect of causing early death for those that hold them. They also maintain biases in our country that rob young and old alike of wisdom, guidance, knowledge, and equity.