Edith + Eddie: America's Oldest Interracial Couple

On this Christmas day, we thought it fitting to remind everyone of the wonderful documentary, "Edith + Eddie."  This heartfelt film by filmmaker Laura Checkoway was a front runner for an Oscar in 2018 and when you watch it, you'll see why.

The story begins with Edith and Eddie's deep love for each other.  And although their love never died, their lives changed forever when guardianship interfered with their devotion and their final days together.



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YouTube: Edith + Eddie

An interview with Laura Checkoway, director of the Oscar-nominated Edith+Eddie

The Kartemquin Films release profiles nonagenarian newlyweds who were torn apart. 

By J.R. Jones

Laura Checkoway

Nominated for an Oscar this year, Laura Checkoway's short documentary Edith+Eddie tells the story of two nonagenarians in Alexandria, Virginia—Edith Hill, a black woman, and Eddie Harrison, a white man—who married in June 2014 after ten years of companionship. The happy couple resided in Edith’s home of 44 years with her daughter Rebecca Wright but, as the film records, had to be forcibly separated after a court-appointed attorney ruled that Edith should be moved to Florida to live with her other daughter. Checkoway, a Michigan native now living in New York, is a protege of local documentary filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters), who served as executive producer on the short and hooked her up with documentary powerhouse Kartemquin Films. Edith+Eddie opens Friday at Music Box as part of two programs collecting this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary shorts.

How did you first hear about this story?
 
A photo of the couple was circulating online. They had gotten married at age 95, 96, and they were being called America's oldest interracial newlyweds. A friend texted the picture to me, and I just kept looking at it. I wanted to know more about them and what it would be like to fall in love at that time in your life, so I connected the dots to the family and they invited me down to meet them. Within a few days I was on a bus from New York to Virginia, and actually the opening scene in the film, where we see them dancing together, was the first time we met.

When you learned about their relationship, did you feel it was different from people who were meeting earlier in life, a different set of stresses and circumstances that shaped their relationship?
 
I feel like they cherished each other even more because every day was something to hold dear. At the same time, that tenderness and excitement that you feel [when you're] young, to see that that doesn't change, whatever that feeling is that we get inside when we're fond of someone, that that remains true and possible throughout your whole life.

How did you first get involved with Kartemquin?
 
Steve James is a mentor of mine. I met him while I was making my first documentary, which is called Lucky. . . . He could really relate to a lot of what he heard I was going through with the making of that film. He suggested I see his film Stevie, which [also] follows a difficult person. . . . I don't know how Steve feels about me saying this, but he has been like an angel in my life.

What have you learned from him, either in your personal contact or through his films?
 
What he saw in Lucky, which he could relate to in Stevie, is not shying away from difficult people who don't have a story necessarily of overcoming or assimilating. It's just as important to pay attention to the kinds of people we wouldn’t usually see onscreen. [I've learned from] his integrity and his openness and willingness to deal with the messiness of life and all the complications that we, as people, go through. And even though Steve started with Hoop Dreams, which is a classic, I also see him continue to step his game up in different ways with every film. To see that level of not just consistency, but getting better with time is really inspiring.

I understand that producing this was more or less a one-woman operation. Can you describe the process of creating the film?
 
I wouldn't say a one-woman operation. I typically have one other collaborator, either a cameraman with me or Corwin [Lamm], who was a collaborator throughout, helped with the editing and coproducing as well. We would get there by any means possible when I felt it was important to be there, stay over at people's houses, sometimes drive back that very same night. I edited it on my laptop. So yeah, it was really bare-bones. There wouldn't have been any other way to make this film. I'm thankful that it was created in the way that it was, because it feels like the power of the story is what really shines through.

Edith was ruled legally incapacitated in 2011, which was a few years before the marriage, for reasons of dementia. In the time you spent with her, did she seem to be cognizant of what was going on? Did she forget things? What was your take on her mental sharpness?
 
She was really clear in some ways and, like many of us, not always so clear in others. It's a really nuanced spectrum, and what we've learned is that often, when somebody is deemed to be incapacitated or that box is checked that says you have dementia, there's no thought or recognition of what a broad spectrum that is. She was very lucid about wanting to be with Eddie, and her love for him, and she often spoke almost in prayer. She would recite poetry, she would sing to him over meals. It was really beautiful to get to know her.

How much time did you spend with her altogether during the shoot?
 
It was just under three months from the time that we met until the end of the film. We continued to film for another year and some change, following Rebecca's fight to bring her mom back home and also recognizing that this is a bigger issue that's happening to elders all over the country. I spoke with activists and advocates all over and families who have been affected by the legal guardianship system as well. Then the story hit a standstill, and when the ending that we were waiting for never came, I went to edit and chose to make it a shorter film.

What did this project teach you about elder-care law? Do you think it should be reformed?
 
Absolutely. I wasn't aware of the legal guardianship system when I entered into this. It's alarming to learn that what happens with Edith and Eddie is happening to elders all over the country, and that it's often experienced in isolation, so families don't know what hit them. I have heard horror stories from all over, and there's a through line even though everyone's family and situation is unique. It's a system that was implemented with intentions of protecting elders and now has become a feeding ground. The people who are appointed to protect are exploiting and taking advantage of those very same people . . . There's no federal oversight—guardianship is a state-by-state system—so there's no statistics on it at all, and that's what allows this sort of situation to fester. It's estimated that there are between 1.5 and three million people in this country under court-appointed guardianship. That's a really big range, right? So there's not even the basic numbers here, let alone people watching over what's happening.

Full Article & Source:
An interview with Laura Checkoway, director of the Oscar-nominated Edith+Eddie

Oscar-Nominated Doc 'Edith+Eddie' Gets Honest About Abuse Of Elderly

Click to Watch Video

Laura Checkoway certainly won't be the most famous director in the room at the 2018 Academy Awards ceremony. But that's exactly what makes it so special. Her second film, "Edith+Eddie," is one of five contenders for best short-subject documentary. She not only directed, produced and edited the film, but she also independently financed it with her fellow producers.

The film follows the lives of Edith and Eddie. When they got married in 2014, they were in their mid 90s and were America's oldest interracial newlyweds. But a family feud threatens to tear them apart.

The documentary indirectly draws attention to the elderly guardianship system, which, Checkoway says, "is in great need of reform."

If an elderly person hasn't arranged for a relative to take care of them, should their cognitive abilities worsen, the state will appoint a guardian to take over their legal and financial decision. This is also the case for elders whose family guardians are in disagreement — as in Edith's story.

Although some would agree court-appointed guardians can serve an important role in our society, critics of the system say there aren't enough safeguards against abuse. The National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse advocates for guardianship law reform. The group argues over the years, that law "has been misapplied, misused, and sometimes … manipulated." The group also warned about the dangers associated with giving strangers "total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards."

Checkoway talked about her Oscar-nominated film with Newsy's Ben Schamisso.

NEWSY'S BEN SCHAMISSO: What would you say the documentary touches on? What are the major themes?

LAURA CHECKOWAY: It brings up elders' rights, dignity and honor, and I think we live in a culture that often disregards some of the most vulnerable among us. And there's a certain reverence or honor for elders that has been lost. What happened with Edith and Eddie is happening to elders all over the country, and most people don't know about it unless it happens within their own family. People that have seen the film told us that this inspired them to go home and talk with their families and loved ones.

SCHAMISSO: Was it a challenge to embed yourself in Edith and Eddie's life, considering that they are quite old?

CHECKOWAY: They opened up right away, and they were so happy to be together and to have found love at this time in their life that they were just really generous and shared their story.

SCHAMISSO: One of the most powerful scenes in the documentary, when Edith is being chased from her own house, it's just such a traumatic scene. What was your state of mind being there in that moment as a filmmaker?

CHECKOWAY: As a doc filmmaker, you know you go on this ride, and it often takes you to all sorts of places and a lot of twists and turns. You just want to stay centered on what you're there to do and the work, and at the same time, these are people who we really care about, and so our hearts were breaking.

We're standing outside in the rainstorm, and Corwin, who was running the sound, said he was still picking up the audio, and he kept saying, "Eddie is amazing, Eddie is a hero," and I didn't know what was going on until, you know, we got home and got to hear the footage.

You never know who you're going to be in any given moment until you're faced with certain experiences, and so who he was in that moment, it really shines through.

SCHAMISSO: Is Edith still alive?

CHECKOWAY: She passed away in March.

SCHAMISSO: Do you think she could have ever imagined that a documentary about her own life story would be nominated for an Oscar?

CHECKOWAY: That's a great question. I don't know, but I know that her daughter Rebecca, she just finds it so incredible. She said her mom was from a part of Virgina in the Appalachian Mountains called Tinywood that's not even on the map, and she said, "From Tinywood to Hollywood," which I thought was, you know, really sweet to hear. I do feel like Edith and Eddie are still with us. Every time people see this film, they're touched by it, and I think that something in them knew that their story represented all elders.

SCHAMISSO: How did Cher become an executive producer?

CHECKOWAY: I was already in the process of making the film, and Cher saw a news clip that said the couple's marriage was threatened. She was moved to want to help them, and so she got involved behind the scenes. And out of her generosity, she hired an attorney to help Rebecca in her fight to first keep the couple together and then to try to bring Edith back home.

She saw the film, and she loved it, and she agreed the lend her name as an executive producer.

Having somebody with that kind of star power is, you know, extra special, and I just think that there's something about it, of, just all of us as human beings, being the same and caring about each other. Something about that that's at the core of this, where, whether it's me or Cher or Edith or whomever, that we're all women and people and that just what tugs at our hearts is — there's just a lot of commonality there.

SCHAMISSO: I know you also are a very successful writer and feature journalist, so I'm wondering how does being a writer help you in your documentary filmmaking?

CHECKOWAY: I became a documentary filmmaker because a young woman, Lucky, whom my first film was about. I started writing about her for a magazine piece, and then she's such just a dynamic person that I was like that woman has to speak for herself. And so film felt like the best way to do that.

My journalism background really — without realizing it — it was great training for making documentaries because at the time, I was mainly writing profiles about entertainers and artists, and they would let me really deeply into their lives in a way that wasn't common. And so that was, you know, just the first taste of getting access into people's lives and just making them feel comfortable enough to want to share their stories.

I actually had just filmed this documentary with Kendrick Lamar I think a few days before I went to meet Edith and Eddie for the first time, and I realized that the way that my heart was beating when I was on this bus from NYC to Virginia to meet Edith and Eddie, I just realized what a fire they had already lit in me before I even met them and how it doesn't matter whether you are a celebrity or someone who people don't know, that you know that a good real story is a good and real story.

SCHAMISSO: I could really relate when at the end of the film, it said, "directed, edited and produced by Laura Checkoway." I could tell you really had ownership of it in a way that's not always common when you think of the Oscars.

CHECKOWAY: And that, again, it just means so much more to be getting ready to be in that room.

SCHAMISSO: Going to the whole ceremony part — what's the one thing you're the most looking forward to?

CHECKOWAY: Good question.

SCHAMISSO: Too many things?

CHECKOWAY: Just being there. Just being there is gonna be really, really special.

Full Article & Source:
Oscar-Nominated Doc 'Edith+Eddie' Gets Honest About Abuse Of Elderly

"Edith+Eddie" Wins Oscar Nomination!

See Also:
NASGA website: Documentaries

Elder caregiving law comes into focus with Edith and Eddie

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Elder caregiving law comes into focus with Edith and Eddie

EDITH+EDDIE to have its international premiere at Hot Docs 2017

EDITH+EDDIE will have its international premiere at the 2017 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, North America's largest documentary film festival, on May 2nd!

Edith+Eddie, a short film directed, edited and produced by Laura Checkoway will have its international premiere at Hot Docs 2017, North America's largest documentary festival, on May 2nd at 8:30PM.

Edith+Eddie will screen at 8:30PM on Tuesday, May 2; 3:45PM on Wednesday, May 3 and 3:30PM on Thursday, May 4 with the film The Fruitless Tree. Tickets are on sale now.

Edith+Eddie world premiered at the True/False Film Fest on March 2nd, enamoring audiences and critics alike.

Notably, the film was written about in the LA Times, with journalist Steven Zeitchik lauding the film as "an indictment of the elder-care system, with racial undertones."

Edith+Eddie will screen among 230 films selected from a record 2,906 entries to the festival. Of those 230 films, 48% of the filmmakers are female. Director Laura Checkoway, producer Thomas Lee Wright, co-producer Karina Rotenstein, and Kartemquin Director of Communications and Distribution Tim Horsburgh will attend the festival and conference.

The film tells the story of Edith Hill and Eddie Harrison–at ages 95 and 96 they are America's oldest interracial newlyweds. Their unusual and idyllic love story is disrupted by a family feud that threatens to tear the couple apart.

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EDITH+EDDIE to have its international premiere at Hot Docs 2017

The LA Times on "Edith+Eddie"

Documentary is the most hybrid of media creations. Lacking the full-blown invention of scripted movies but also the hard-knuckled reality of broadcast news, it occupies a more powerful in-between. Like scripted film, it has the power to suspend assumptions and persuade us into new beliefs. But it does so without asking us to leave reality behind; documentary actively wants to shape our world and increase its comprehensibility.

FLIPPING EXPECTATIONS

“Edith + Eddie” starts out feeling like an inspirational story. A black woman and white man find each other, and love, in their mid-90s.

But as the couple is separated due to a legal battle, what could have been a life-affirming hug turns into something darker: an indictment of the elder-care system, with racial undertones. One is meant to leave the theater feeling anger at the forces that drove them apart.

“I thought it was going to be this uplifting story,” said director Laura Checkoway, a print journalist turned documentarian. "But as we were shooting it became clearer something else was happening that I strongly felt needed to be shown.”

Source:
In the Age of Alternative Facts, Decoding Truth in Documentary

A Review of the Documentary "Edith+Eddie"

Laura Checkoway’s Edith+Eddie. A Kartemquin-supported project, Checkoway’s film introduces us to Edith Hill and Eddie Harrison of Annandale, Virginia, the world’s oldest interracial newlyweds.

At ages 96 and 95, their late-life love affair seems the stuff of fairytales — we witness them going out dancing and attending their weekly church service — but it isn’t long before we learn that Edith’s mental state has left her under the legal care of those who have more interest in her property than her wishes.

Edith+Eddie examines the psychic repercussions of familial estrangement to devastating effect.

Source:
Heart and Form in the Midwest: The Best of the 2017 True/False Film Festival

Edith+Eddie's Successful Premier!

Kartemquin's newest release, Edith+Eddie a enjoyed highly anticipated and enthusiastically-met runs at the True/False Film Fest, running March 2nd-March 5th.

Edith+Eddie world premiered to a sold-out crowd on March 2nd, with Julia Reichert––often hailed as the godmother of the American independent film movement––describing the film as, "One of the most beautiful and quietly furious films I have ever seen."

Director Laura Checkoway was in attendance for all three sold-out screenings. The short doc, following the unusual and idyllic love story of Edith Hill and Eddie Harrison, America's oldest interracial newlyweds, struck chords with audience members and reviewers alike:

Source: Edith+Eddie

REQUEST A SCREENING of Edith+Eddie in your area

Documentary "Edith+Edddie" Premiers at True/False Filmfest in Missouri

Two lovers against the world. A relationship trying to beat the odds.

This is among the most prominent storylines in our common book of narratives. Laura Checkoway finds a new way to tell it, at the intersection of ageism and ageless love, in her short film “Edith + Eddie,” which will have its premiere at next week’s True/False Film Fest.

Checkoway traveled to Virginia to make one film and emerged with something else — what no doubt will be among the most charming and infuriating 30 minutes True/False audiences will witness.

The title figures were newlyweds when Checkoway met them. Edith, who is black, and Eddie, who is white, dated for a decade before tying the knot at 96 and 95, respectively.

“It started really as a sweet love story, and just a testament to finding love in that season of your life,” Checkoway said. “They’d both been so awakened by each other. It seemed to give them a new reason to want to get up in the morning.”

It quickly became evident that another drama was bubbling up below the surface. Edith’s daughters were at loggerheads about how to care for their mother, and a legal guardian — who had never met Edith — was appointed to intervene.

As events unfolded, Checkoway was confused by what she saw. She initially thought this power struggle was an isolated incident but, after doing her homework, learned Edith and Eddie's story is an all-too-common one.

The film became a meditation on how we treat our elders and a painful glance at the guardianship system, which Checkoway called broken and predatory. Checkoway’s affection for her subjects, and the disorientation she feels with the viewer at seeing their potential fate, is clear throughout.

“Laura cares about the people she’s filming,” said documentary veteran Steve James, who executive produced “Edith + Eddie” as well as Checkoway’s first film, “Lucky.”

Checkoway’s background is in print journalism, most notably profiles and features for Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and Vibe. Her transition into documentary was relatively natural, she said. The demands of a new medium felt like more of an adjustment than moving beyond the world of celebrity.

“I became a documentary filmmaker, maybe without consciously realizing it, but because I wanted to tell the stories of everyday people,” Checkoway said.

Full Article and Source:
All in Good Time:  True/False Doc Explores Purity, Complication of Ageless Love

Join the Edith+Eddie Facebook Page

Note:  Edith+Eddie premiers at the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, MO Feb. 27 thru March 5th.  See the Edith+Eddie Facebook Page for exact time and locations.