The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Leaders to grace silver screen
Film captures stories of older adults who contribute to others in many ways
Devoted Health and Silver Screen Studios have partnered to honor older adults in the Lorain community by presenting their stories.
Silver Screen Studios, funded by Reboot, a media arts organization, honors seniors and captures their stories in short films.
Lorain City Council president Joel Arredondo, Community activist Michael Ferrer and Pastor Marilyn Parker-Jeffries were selected as local honorary subjects.
Tiffany Woolf and Noam Dromi are co-creators of Silver Screen Studios.
Woolf said the idea came to life as she noticed the lack of older adult role models in her own life.
“Four years ago, I began to film older role models and capture their stories,” she said.
“I felt like I was the beneficiary of these great stories,” Woolf explained, “and felt like other people needed to hear it, too.”
“We believe that everyone has an incredible story to tell and the best stories haven’t been told yet.” — Tiffany Woolf
Before the novel coronavirus pandemic, Woolf said and crew traveled throughout the country and captured the stories of celebrities, holocaust survivors, senators, etc.
“We believe that everyone has an incredible story to tell and the best stories haven’t been told yet,” she said.
A new collaboration with Devoted Health has birthed the Devoted Silver Stars Film Fest with Lorain as the first premiere location.
“Lorain is our first inaugural market,” Woolf said. “We have decided to choose three subjects in Lorain and film their stories as their Hollywood Film moment.”
Therese Amato, Devoted Health Ohio market provider and community marketing manager, said the campaign is directly in line with Devoted Health’s mission.
“Our goal is to serve our members in a way that feels like family,” Amato said. “Lorain is like a family, so I think it connects nicely to highlight these stories.”
Amato, along with a committee, had the privilege of selecting seniors in Lorain that are pillars in the community.
“The hard part was narrowing our selection to three,” she said. “There are so many people doing great things in this community.”
Arredondo, Ferrer and Parker-Jeffries were selected as local honorary subjects.
“Each of these extraordinary community leaders have devoted their lives to faith, community and service and bring an incredible spirit along with what they continue to give to the community,” Woolf said.
In August, the filming crew spent a week with Arredondo, Ferrer and ParkerJefferies to film their stories.
“I AM DEVOTED” is a national campaign and documentary style film series.
The Devoted Health’s premiere event will bring classic Hollywood glamour to the Lorain Palace Theatre with a “Silver Carpet” premiere, awards ceremony and screening of these documentary-style short films featuring the honorees.
“Due to the recent and ever changing developments with COVID-19, the celebration will be postponed until 2022,” Woolf said.
Although the premiere was postponed, the official trailer is available on YouTube.