Ian Bustard
Ian Bustard said he did not know how to help after his own father’s diagnosis.
When Bafta-winning filmmaker Ian Bustard set out to make a film about dementia, he did so from a very personal place – not knowing how to help after his father’s diagnosis.
A partnership emerged with Scottish poet and activist Ron Coleman, who lived with vascular dementia and became known as The Demented Poet.
The pair created a documentary and short film, which are being shown as a double-bill at cinemas around the country.
The films have seen emotional responses from people living with dementia and their carers.
The Demented Poets, the documentary directed by Bustard, follows his journey after his father’s diagnosis and introduces viewers to Coleman and other “dementia activists” who refuse to be defined by their condition.
Alongside this, Bustard and Coleman also made Caught in This Moment in Time – a short film based on a stage play by Coleman.
In it Coleman plays a writer with dementia, struggling with writer’s block, accompanied only by AI companion Alexa.
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The Demented Poet double bill features people living with dementia
Bustard told BBC Scotland News that the screenings aim to give a voice to those living with dementia.
He said: “It’s a film that’s really for people who have recently got a diagnosis, or for family members, because it gives a different perspective from what you get from medical professionals.
“And as we’re starting to screen it we’re finding that it’s actually getting a really strong emotional response from people that have got family members.
“I’ve even heard people who have got a diagnosis say it’s the first time they’ve felt positive since the diagnosis.”
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Ron Coleman died in October but wanted the project to continue
Coleman died in October last year, in the middle of a run of screenings.
On his deathbed he asked Bustard to continue work on a third film in his memory.
He is now doing this, working with the team that he and Coleman built.
The duo had been developing The F Ward, a film conceived by Coleman about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people in care homes.
Bustard said: “He left me with a list of tasks to complete but he said what I want you to do more than anything else is to finish the F Ward.
“I promised Ron I would finish this film, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
The project – involving actors with dementia alongside other experienced actors – aims to preserve memories from the pandemic era.
The Demented Poet double bill will be at Montrose Playhouse on 22 January, Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre in Peebles on 23 of January and Eastwood Theatre in Giffnock on 13 February.