Photo courtesy Devra Labs
In June 2023, Cincinnati filmmakers Brett Miller and Pierce Ryan had the latter’s upcoming trip to Florida heavy on their minds. Unfortunately, this was no normal trip home for Pierce; his mother had asked him to come and begin saying goodbye to his father, Jeff Ryan.
In 2018, Jeff was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, a progressive brain disease that begins to deteriorate the patient’s cognitive abilities and bodily functions. Pierce’s mother told him that the family planned to put Jeff on oxygen, and that at this point of the disease, it was likely that he would pass within the year.
Pierce struggled to describe what he was feeling amid the gravity of the situation. So, when words failed, he turned to what was familiar: filming and storytelling. Upon arriving in Florida and seeing the impact of the disease on not just his father, but his family as well, he felt the need to begin documenting his day-to-day life as a way to process everything happening around him.
“I got the idea to do a documentary that would [show] the final six months of [Jeff’s] life, and six months after; basically a panoramic view of this whole disease that didn’t shy away from the dark details,” says Ryan. “It doesn’t put caretakers on a pedestal or make them heroes with no flaws, but at the same time, the credence to every perspective plugged into different people’s opinions on it.”
Miller and Pierce are longtime collaborators when it comes to film. They met through their shared film major at Florida State University, where they quickly became friends and creative confidants. This artistic partnership continued post-grad, when they decided to move to Cincinnati. Pierce shared his film idea with Miller and invited him on as a producer for the film, much to Miller’s excitement. The documentary, Cindy, Jeff, and I, takes a first-person approach to the narrative and places viewers in the middle of the Ryan family. The intention was to create a documentary that explores Alzheimer’s from the family’s perspective.
While filming, Pierce had the startling realization that the main character in this story had not turned out to be his father, but rather his mother, Cindy Ryan.
Photo courtesy Devra Labs
“My mom was 53 at the time and has a whole life to live afterward; that was a big focus,” says Ryan. “Yes, she’s taking care of him, but she has personal dreams and hopes and romantic relationships outside of this; she wants to be loved, she wants to have purpose.”
The choice to focus on Cindy may seem a surprise at first, but Pierce was confident in his choice. Cindy wears many hats in this film; she’s a mother, wife, caretaker, romantic interest, and more. She’s pursuing new romantic connections while grieving the marriage she’s still in, and she struggles with the heavy responsibility of taking care of her husband while maintaining some semblance of her identity as a person outside of this role. What emerges is a complex, very real character that Pierce knows audiences will fall in love with.
Requesting his family to be part of such a vulnerable process was not a straight shot for Pierce. He recounts tense arguments before finally reaching an agreement with his family. When it came to the subject of morality, no one was quite sure if it was right to film Jeff in the vulnerability of his final months of life. Not to mention, the family had fears of being so exposed on screen.
It took time for Pierce to properly put his vision for the film into words, to explain the love and care he was putting into this project, and his vision for how this film would help others process their grief as well. With due time, the family agreed, but with the power to demand the camera be cut when asked. While initially, they were hesitant to be a part of the project, what swayed them was the belief Jeff would be proud of his son’s vision.
Jeff himself was a natural-born storyteller. Before Alzheimer’s, he worked as a fundraiser for the Florida Democratic House. Growing up, Pierce remembers being enthralled by his father’s storytelling abilities and how people would react to his natural charm and humor, a skill Pierce carries within his work now.
“I think I’d say he was the most fun, loving person you’d ever meet, always had jokes, always had funny stories,” says Pierce. “I’d memorize his jokes and stories, and then tell them to my friends at school.”
Miller only met Jeff a handful of times prior to creating the film, but recalls the positive impact he had on those around him.
“I know Jeff was an incredibly bold person who could make friends just like that. Everyone loved him,” says Miller. “Every single person in this film has nothing but warmth for him. I don’t think we meet a single person who even has a negative thought to say about him.”
In total, the duo had over 100 hours of footage to review and piece together into a cohesive story. Miller described this six-week process as watching the “greatest film that no one would see.” The goal, while combing over these clips, was to find the moments that resonate, drive the plot forward, and achieve the mission of creating a comprehensive inside look at a household with Alzheimer’s. This painstakingly detailed process was worth the effort—such meticulous planning creates a fully fledged story that’s as engaging as it is educational.
“I think every single one of his family members are these unique characters that have such overt portraits of themselves on-screen. Like Jeff’s brother, Chris—he always does this thing where he flexes to the camera,” says Miller. “When you see that once or twice, you feel like you know more about him than if you were getting a regular, sit-down, talking heads interview. We get to know these people in such a way that before I knew nothing about them, and after, I feel like I’ve met them.”
This sense of intimacy is what makes the film. Viewers are thrown directly into the home of the Ryans and see first-hand the often hidden realities of taking care of someone with Alzheimher’s. It’s a devastating disease, one that not even doctors fully understand. A particularly striking moment in the film is a scene where Jeff experiences a brief breakthrough of lucidity. Jeff turns to Pierce’s sister, Madison Ryan, and asks her simply, “How you doing? You doing good?”
Jeff had been on a steep decline two weeks prior to this, and the fleeting moment of clarity was an unexpected and emotional moment.
Photo courtesy Devra Labs
“You can see her then putting on a shell, ‘I’m good, I’m good.’” says Pierce. “Then she leaves, and she just breaks down crying, my mom and sister and I talk, and then we laugh, and then we talked about how it was weird that when he remembered her for some reason, it made it way worse. And she can’t necessarily exactly describe why.”
Currently, the film is still in post-production, but Miller and Pierce hope to begin test screenings in Cincinnati later this year. It’s not just Miller and Ryan who believe in the potential of this film. Film Independent, one of the most prestigious film nonprofits, has given Cindy, Jeff, and I a fiscal sponsorship. This sponsorship creates gateways to getting the film into elite festivals and screens everywhere.
“When we found out about [the sponsorship], it was a huge, awesome relief because [Film Independent] was our number one choice for fiscal sponsorship,” says Ryan. “They host the film Independent Spirit Awards … they are the best you can get.”
Additional outreach is being led by Pierce and Cindy, who have been traveling to different conferences hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association to explain the film and set up potential screenings through these groups in the future. The goal is for the Cincinnati screenings to have an Alzheimer’s Association panel in addition to the film.
Pierce and Miller hope viewers leave this documentary with a greater sense of empathy for those impacted by the disease in any capacity; letting those going through a similar situation know they aren’t alone and that their emotions and reactions are valid.
“I think if there was one thing that I want people to take away from watching this movie, is if they ever do find themselves in a situation where they’re taking care of someone with Alzheimer’s, they give themselves and others more grace,” says Pierce “Because this disease is so weird, strange and life-altering for everybody who’s involved, it doesn’t go by the normal rules of life.”
While his father was never able to see the documentary or even talk to Pierce about it, Pierce believes that his father would have been happy with the work he did.
“He was always super proud of me for going into film,” says Pierce. “So we all had a really good feeling that this would have been something he was very supportive of and happy with.”
Find more information about Cindy, Jeff, and I and upcoming screenings via the film’s website.
Facebook Comments