We often tend to take the fragility of our own realities for granted…

Tomorrow at the TIFF Lightbox for one night only, audiences in our city are being treated to a poignant look, not just at the story of how a family deals with a life changing health diagnosis but ultimately how they push through it in a documentary that speaks to the human experience more than this critic honestly thought it would.  We all need to see Walk With Me.

Life changes when Charlie, a 57-year-old talented graphic designer, father, and charismatic community leader, discovers that his recent fogginess is due to Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease. His wife of 30 years Heidi Levitt is determined to better understand the disease, learn how to live their best life with it, forge a new path forward and document every step along the journey. Over the course of four years, what she captures as they criss -cross the country is a testament to the strength, resilience, and humor of the human spirit.

Now it takes a village to make a movie under the best of circumstances but in making the transition from veteran casting director to first time filmmaker (and subject) Heidi Levitt does something that is absolutely masterful and not easily accomplished even in the hands of some more veteran filmmakers.  With Walk With Me we get something that is emotionally balanced that isn’t trying to make a cause out of the situation.  It’s the story of what happens when you have a loved one suffering from an illness who you know won’t get better and it’s ultimately about coming to terms with that in the most dignified way possible.

While she obviously can’t avoid being a part of the story, Levitt very much keeps the focus on Charlie as he struggles to adapt to his new realities.  That being said it’s a reminder that at some point in our lives we all need help, and it’s those relationships that we have with either friends or family that allow the individual in our lives who needs the help to maintain a little dignity along the way.  Of course Levitt as a loving partner/spouse is doing the work to help Charlie potentially get better and we get insight into many of the therapies that are involved with the treatment for people with Alzheimer’s, more importantly we see someone who is THERE for someone.   At the of the day, she’s his rock and the more the film moves on the more that tenderly comes to light.

Walk With Me gives a face to those realities that we all have to confront at some point because at some point we just have to deal with it, and make our lives and the situation that we find ourselves in the best we possibly can.

Acclaimed casting director Heidi Levitt joins the Canadian Premiere of her directorial debut Walk With Me, a deeply personal documentary four years in the making. Following the screening, Levitt and Dr. Helena Chang Chui, an internationally renowned expert on Alzheimer’s disease, will be joined by award-winning writer and journalist Johanna Schneller for an onstage conversation and moderated audience Q&A.