{ "page": "\x3cp\x3eThis was my third assignment in film school.  Knowing in advance I was going to shoot on 16mm film, I wanted to shoot something where film could both enhance and be an integral part of the project.\x3c/p\x3e \x3cp\x3eI came up with the idea of Afloat through my relationship with my 96-year-old grandmother and her experiences of aging.  She loves water exercise.  I started thinking about how to capture aging in a swimming pool with a gentle lens.\x3c/p\x3e \x3cp\x3eThe biggest challenge of this film was to find a pool that had plenty of natural light and, most importantly, 80-90-year-old swimmers willing to let me into their lives and film them in their bathing-suits.  After visiting almost every pool in a 50-mile radius of where I live, I arrived at a water exercise class at Brookdale Woodside Terrace Senior Community Center in Redwood City, California.  I knew immediately that the film existed there.\x3c/p\x3e \x3cp\x3eAfter participating in a few classes at the pool and involving myself at the community center, I began asking how the participants in the class would feel if I brought a camera underwater and above water to film them.  They loved the idea.  The first day I filmed, a few of the women showed up in new bathing suits and painted their toe-nails special for the shoot.  They all got a kick watching me work with the camera underwater as I held my breath, submerged underwater, and swam around them.   We all had a lot of fun.\x3c/p\x3e \x3cp\x3eAfter spending my mornings shooting at the pool and afternoons conducting interviews, I became good friends with the swimmers at Brookdale.  I grew especially fond of Bob Windle who opens the film.  A few months after the completion of the film, Bob\'s pre-existing heart condition grew worse and he passed away in September 2005.   He is greatly missed.\x3c/p\x3e \x3cp\x3e \x3c/p\x3e", "type": "statements" }