The association Dementia Lithuania is premiering a series of short films under the title “Stories of Life with Dementia”. They tell stories of families living in various cities across Lithuania and who are caring for a person with dementia. The heroines of the stories are women who take care of their husbands, mothers, fathers, and grandfathers. The stories of these strong women tell how dementia adjusts plans, allows you to rediscover who your loved ones and friends are, and choose: "Will I be a victim of my situation or will I accept it with my head held high?"
The first film, “I live his life”, premiered in January 2024 and tells the story of Vida, who is a carer to her husband Vladas, and their daughter Viktorija. Vladas has been living with dementia for 15 long years, He went to the doctor because of memory problems, but, at the time, the doctor found no reason to refer him for further examination. The examination was performed five years later, when the disease has substantially progressed, and still, a false diagnosis was made. Finally, in 2021 the family received the answer that Vladas had Alzheimer's disease.
The director is Ieva Petkutė (Dementia Lithuania) and the operator is Eglė Gudonytė. The production of the films was implemented by the NGO Socialiniai meno projektai in cooperation with Dementia Lithuania, as part of the project "Towards a Dementia Strategy: Situation Analysis and Awareness Raising", which is part of the Active Citizens Fund, financed by the European Economic Area (EEA) financial mechanism. The project was supported by Vilnius city municipality. Watch “I live his life”: https://youtu.be/WhDUaZTl1fg?si=SGPsY2kTomyI1Clo
