Photographer and Worcester native Stephen DiRado has taken photos of everyone in his life since he was a child. That’s why, 20 years ago, he knew something was wrong with his father. DiRado started to notice that his father became detached, distant and insecure in front of the camera.
“It wasn't until his first stroke that, in the hospital, this word ‘Alzheimer’s’ came up and ... there was no return after that,” DiRado told host Aaron Schachter on Morning Edition Tuesday, World Alzheimer’s Day. “[It] was not depression, wasn’t something else, lack of vitamin — that it was this horrible thing called Alzheimer’s.”
The powerful documentary "WITH DAD" chronicles the work of MA. photographer Stephen DiRado during his father’s decline from Alzheimer’s disease. Watch TONIGHT on GBH 2 at 7:30pm, or stream for free all month long here: https://t.co/WuLVYuLvHt #WorldAlzheimersDay pic.twitter.com/GLzyQC0d6K
— GBH (@GBH) September 21, 2021
After his father Gene’s diagnosis, DiRado continued taking photographs, even bringing his old-fashioned flash camera to the hospital. Those photographs are now featured in a short documentary, “With Dad,” which chronicles his father’s 20-year battle with the disease that ultimately led to his death. The film includes interviews with DiRado, who is now around the same age as his father, an artist, was when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Filmmaker Soren Sorensen helped DiRado sort through decades of photographs to assemble the documentary and show Gene’s decline.
“In a half an hour, it happens before your very eyes,” Sorenson said.
Even from the outside, Sorensen said he could see Gene’s transformation from a healthy, lively and youthful 60-year-old man. “And then, by the end of it, he’s crumpled, essentially,” he said. “The process, it’s like — it's like watching a flower wilt and die and in a sense, in fast motion. It’s extremely hard and difficult.”
Working on the film renewed Sorensen’s belief in the power of filmmaking, he said.
“I don’t think I ever realized how powerful the short documentary form could be before I started working with these photographs and thinking about how accelerated this can feel to an audience, even though it’s happening over the course of 20 years,” he said.
Sorensen explained that he intentionally left out dates and time stamps in the film to mimic the disorienting and confusing feeling that Alzheimer’s creates for patients and their families.
“That’s the experience of the disease, to paraphrase a friend of mine, that time is sort of like an accordion,” he said. “And then people say this about COVID as well. Certain things feel like they’re happening very quickly. Other things feel like they’re taking forever.”
“With Dad” airs on GBH 2 Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Stream it on our website now.
