Grains of Sand is a positive “coming-of-age” story about two women in their 80s. Filmed over eight years, the documentary accompanies the filmmaker’s mother and mother-in-law, artists and close friends, as they enter their ninth decade. The Grains of Sand Film Screening will be followed by a Collage Workshop designed to engage with the themes of the film and use them to reflect on our own lives.

THE FILM

Margot & Barbara, close friends and artists, meet for a work retreat in a stone farmhouse in the German countryside. They are both about to turn 80. As they begin to work on the large stones they have brought to sculpt, they embark on a conversation about creativity and aging, exploring what it means for them to arrive at this stage of their lives. Their wrinkled hands become dusty as they scrape and chisel the stones.

THE DISCUSSION

With humor and empathy, Grains of Sand demystifies the aging process and builds identification with the protagonists. The film collapses the experience of eight years into 85 minutes. This moving narrative arc invites people of all ages to engage with what it means to grow old and what matters most as we do so.

THE COLLAGE WORKSHOP

Art for Barbara and Margot is a way of living. Throughout the film, art transcends the sensual experience to become also a way of reflecting on life itself.

Building on the film, Collage Workshop participants will have a chance to experiment in a tactile, visual realm. We discuss scenes from the film which continue to resonate for us, and at the same time begin to play with color and shapes on the page. We can use the materials in front of us to fold in thoughts, memories and references to lived events. Participants find themselves sharing aspects of who they are and connecting with the other participants in unexpected ways. The conversation with those around us at the table becomes a dialogue with ourselves, a kind of collage self-portrait in the materials we bring to paper.

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