Dementia help appeal from producer David
Sunderland-born film producer David Parfitt has spoken candidly about his personal connection to award-winning film The Father, which tells the story of a man living with dementia.
The former actor, who began his stage career with the Sunderland Empire Theatre Society, revealed his own father-in-law, Philip, has the condition at a special screening of the film in support of Alzheimer’s Society.
David joined the charity’s chief executive Kate Lee for the screening and question and answer session about producing the film – which won the BAFTA and Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay and Sir Anthony Hopkins picked up the BAFTA and Academy Award as leading actor.
At the ‘virtual’ event, David described how he had taken Florian Zeller, the film’s writer and director, to meet his father-in-law.
Florian based the film on the experiences of his grandmother, but Parfitt says his wife Liz keeps her father’s spirits up by joking that it’s about him.
David said: “My wife, keeps saying to her dad ‘we’ve been making a film about you’, and he goes ‘oh, that’s nice!’
"You’re played by Anthony Hopkins’, ‘oh, he’s good’. Which is lovely, but of course, the next time we go, he can’t remember and the last year of course, we’ve hardly seen him at all.”
He added: “What we do realise is that we’re a relatively privileged family who can afford the care and he’s in a relatively nice place. We also know that’s not the case for the majority of people.
"There’s a whole other discussion to be had about funding. I know from direct experience how tough it is to keep people looked after.”
Ms Lee said: “The film is just so important for breaking down those taboos around dementia. It’s so important that we get across the impact of this disease and that the need of support is huge and universal, whether you can afford to buy that yourself or whether it’s provided by the state.
“I think the film will do a huge amount to reduce the stigma around dementia which is ultimately one of the biggest problems of our society.
"People aren’t talking about it which has a huge impact; that’s why it’s not in the Government’s agenda for social care reform, and can be why people don’t go and get a diagnosis.”