Pretty Old

I was there visiting my girlfriend (now wife) and I had just finished looking at the war and sports photography when I stumbled into the still life exhibit. I walked around the corner and saw this majestic image that from afar looked like a photorealist painting. It was three senior women backstage at what looked like a Broadway show, and was a mix... ture between beautifully vivid textures of skin tones with lights and glitter intermingled with a haunting reality of aging and a clinging to a past youth. For me there was something unexplainable about it and I couldn't stop staring. I looked at the caption and all it said was "Ms. Senior Sweetheart Beauty Pageant, Fall River, Massachusetts" - I was hooked. I wanted to make those pictures come alive. I went home, started researching and found a whole subculture of senior pageants in America. I contacted Magnus (the photographer) and he sent me the article and story he did on the pageant along with some contact details. After reading his perspective as a foreigner (he is from Sweden) I was completely intrigued and decided to personally reach out to the pageant. When I called, a man with a upbeat and extremely distinctively scratchy voice, complete with a New England accent, picked up and said "Hello, hello? Low Price Kaplan here, with the Ms. Senior Sweetheart Beauty Pageant of America "slash" International. I had met Lenny, and for the next three years immersed myself into the world of senior beauty pageants. I called in every personal and professional favor I had, spent every single dime I earned, and ended up surrounded by an amazing team of talented filmmakers, who right before my eyes, took on my intrigue and great passion for the subject and characters, and helped me creatively craft this film with the hope of brining it to an audience. With PRETTY OLD I am trying to show people that being and growing "old" can be absolutely beautiful. This was a concept that I did not believe when I set out to make this film. At first, as I expect many audiences will do, I ...Read More