Grains of Sand

Filmed over 8 years, GRAINS OF SAND accompanies the filmmaker’s mother and mother-in-law, artists and close friends, as they enter their ninth decade. Through conversation, memories and artwork, along with reflections by the filmmaker herself, they create together in a personal essayistic style, this positive coming-of-age story.

GRAINS OF SAND offers a counter-narrative to the marginalization and invisibility of older people in our society, particularly women, by affirming the importance and relevance of their work and life experiences. The film unpacks formative moments in their biographies, reflects on how they grappled with traditional societal expectations of women, and creates space for issues of aging usually ignored by society – such as fear of death, illness, and body pain.

GRAINS OF SAND is a testament to the power of art and friendship and a personal exploration of what it means to age and continue becoming oneself. In the true sense of the phrase, it is a story of two women’s coming-of-age at 80.

85 minutes, English & German with subtitles in both languages