Cinema fans in Ho Chi Minh City will have a chance to watch the UK’s “Ping Pong” Documentary Film, which will be shown on June 27 as part of the 2013 International Documentary Film Festival catering for audiences of all ages.
The film, launched by the British Council, is directed and produced by Hugh and Anson Hartford and officially selected at many documentary festivals like the Hotdocs, Sheffield Docs, Docs New York City, and Warsaw International Film Festival 2012.
The film tells a story about pensioners from across the planet competing in the World over 80s Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia.
From retirement, care homes, mental and physical health to death and loneliness; 8 players from 4 continents, with 703 years between them; guide us through the extraordinary world of Veteran sports. The film interweaves the competition with intimate and candid portraits that explore the hope, passion, prejudice, and immediacy of growing old.
Terry (81) having been given a week to live, gets in sight of winning gold. Inge (89) has used table tennis to train her way out of the dementia ward she committed herself to. Australian legend Dorothy DeLow is 100, and finds herself a mega celebrity in this rarefied world and Texan Lisa Modlich, a new-comer at 85 years old, is determined to do whatever it takes to win her first gold. This film is as much about the tenacity of the human spirit as it is a meditation on mortality.
From the outset, the film challenges perceptions of what it is to grow old. With humour and sensitivity it emotionally engages us with the issues we all face in an ageing global population. Right now 1 in 6 people on the planet are over the age of 60. By 2030 that figure will be 1 in every 4.