These are compelling themes in Lives Well Lived, an engaging, heart-warming documentary about older people who have mastered the art of living happily, on their own terms. Director Sky Bergman will speak at each screening about her four-year project to interview 40 people, ages 75 to 103, and ultimately focus on 12 of that group in more detail.
    Following the premise of asking seniors to share their wisdom and secrets for happiness and longevity, the project morphed from photo journalism into a feature documentary. Bergman skillfully weaves archival footage, vintage photos and home movies with her interviews, creating a smooth flowing and nicely paced film.
    A Sense of History.  What also evolved was a thread connecting the generation most heavily influenced by World War II. These are ordinary people who rose to the challenge of extraordinary times. They shared their wartime experiences, where they exhibited the courage and survivor skills that in turn instilled a sense of purpose and strong work ethic. From footage, photos and intimate memories we witness their first-person insight into history – the concentration camps, fleeing from Hitler or Stalin, the Japanese internment camps here in the States, and later, dealing with discrimination and the perils of civil rights activism during the days of Jim Crow.
    Diverse, Alert & Engaged.   Half of the core group is foreign-born, and some are first-generation Americans. Caucasian, African American, Asian, Hispanic and East European — they all share the desire to make their lives count for something. As they aged, they changed careers and focus, gravitating to activities that reflect and fulfill their individual passions in life.
    Significantly, in their sunset years they are a lively and vigorous lot – they cook, teach piano, paint, teach dance, sculpt, practice yoga, and in general give back to society. One is a photo journalist, one a Yoruba priest, one founded a children's youth orchestra, another is working on her PhD. On and on.
    Hope for Future Generations.   Bergman asked these active and involved people to share their definition of a life well lived, their approach to happiness and longevity, and to offer advice for younger people. What we see is a variety of perspectives on how to have a meaningful life, all bound by a common thread of positivity. It is the filmmaker's hope that their personal stories and unbreakable spirit will inspire future generations to achieve similar outcomes. A worthy goal, one to which we should all aspire.

    Sky Bergman is an accomplished, award-winning photographer and Lives Well Lived is her directorial debut. Bergman is currently Professor of Photography and Video at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA.
    Her fine art work is included in permanent collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (National Library of France) in Paris. Her book, The Naked & The Nude: Images from the Sculpture Series, includes an introduction by Heléne Pinet, curator of photography at the Rodin Museum in Paris. She has shot book covers for Random House and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc., and magazine spreads that appeared in Smithsonian, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, Reader's Digest, and Archaeology Odyssey.

    My inspiration for the Lives Well Lived project was my 103 year old Italian grandmother who enjoyed exercise, making the best lasagna you've ever tasted and being with family. She showed me by example, that age is truly just a number.
    I started filming my grandmother cooking about five years ago, when she was 99 years old. I filmed her at the gym because I thought, no one will believe that my grandmother is still working out. I asked her if she could give me a few words of wisdom, and that was the beginning of this adventure.
    The "graying of America" is no longer a futuristic prediction: The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show over 50 years ago and Baby Boomers are turning 70. As I was approaching my 50th year, I began to reflect on my own life in a very different way. My grandmother was my guide for how to gracefully move through life and how to age with dignity, strength, and humor. I began a quest to search out other people, who like my grandmother were living life to the limits.
    In our society, the elderly are often overlooked. I want to bring that generation to the forefront. Our greatest role models are those living full and meaningful lives in their later years. Lives Well Lived celebrates the incredible wit, wisdom and life experiences of seniors who are living life to the fullest.
    Although they may have seen the worst of humanity, their outlook is still optimistic. Their stories are about perseverance, the human spirit, and staying positive in the midst of the great challenges. Their thoughtful perspectives reveal a treasure of life lessons and a reminder of the greatest role models in our own families.
    Four years and forty interviews later, I listened; capturing the images, ideas and ideals of those who are proving that aging is something to cherish. Through the film, I hope to inspire people of every age to think about what they can do in their own lives to achieve the longevity of both health and spirit that these people have achieved, and to realize that growing older can be a journey to be celebrated.