Appropriate for: High School College/University
Special Features:
Over 20 minutes of DVD bonus material includes Bill's " talk story" about his colorful past and Bill performing three songs in concert.
Browse Films
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Bill Tapia, a 94-year-old Hawaiian jazz pioneer, gave up on music—thinking that life wasn’t really worth much after his wife of 63 years and his only daughter passed away within two years of each other.
But when he befriends 26-year-old Alyssa, a Hapa-Hawaiian woman with a special connection to Bill’s past, he rediscovers his musical passion and youthful spirit. He begins a gripping journey back to his full potential, as a musician and as a man living an active life despite his advanced age and failing body.
This film explores four themes:
* Productive Aging: Leaders in gerontology call Bill’s experience “productive aging”, an aging process where at 20, 50, or 95 one is socially engaged, is exercising body and brain to ensure high physical and mental function, and is expressing oneself creatively.
* Intergenerational Relationships: explore the sincere, unvarnished, and compelling dynamic between two people bound by culture, music, and a genuine affection for each other—in spite of their almost 70-year difference in age.
* Caretaking: the film exposes conflicts that can fester amongst caretakers and the elderly when there is growing loss of independence. It explores various caretaking roles while revealing misunderstandings that arise out of simple naïveté or self-preservation.
* Art and Aging: a musician is liberated from his personal loss by returning to performing and singing the music he loves. By using his art to entertain adoring audiences and to connect to a new generation, he experiences the joy and pain of life and revives himself in mind and body.
A must see for all aging people, who are all of us.
Doris Bersing, Executive Director
Pacific Institute, San Francisco
full review
A very moving and personal story about a remarkable man.
John Berger
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
full review
Heart-warming...
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
A gem!
LA Weekly
Surprisingly poignant...
TimeOut Chicago
AWARDS & SCREENINGS:
- PBS National Broadcast
- ASA-NCOA Join Conference Media Festival
- Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (Audience Award)
- Silver Images Film & Video Festival (Special Recognition Award, Documentary)
- Hawi'i International Film Festival
- Chicago Asian American Showcase
- Singapore International Film Festival
- WorldFilm, Estonia
- Taipei Film Festival
Resources to Download
A 5-page guide designed specifically to facilitate use of To You Sweetheart, Aloha in organizations and community settings.
Visit the official website for To You Sweetheart, Aloha
