Once Beautiful Past

A Dissave Pictures release

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Year: Script Dec 2006 Film May 2007

Country of Origin: USA

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Duration: 38 minutes

Format for pre-selection: DVD (region 1, NTSC)

Format for festival screenings: Digital Betacam (NTSC)

Betacam SP (NTSC)

DVD (region 1, NTSC)

Ratio:  1.85:1

Image: Color

Audio: Stereo

       

Synopsis

 

125 Word Synopsis

 

Once Beautiful Past is the story of a reclusive man’s struggle to connect with his estranged daughter.  Henry Hall finds his quiet life turned upside down when details of his wife’s death fourteen years’ prior compound growing complications from the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.  Involved with an unsympathetic and selfish girlfriend, Henry realizes that the accident that took his wife’s life has had equally devastating effects on his daughter Jessie.  Forced to choose between the daughter he left behind and a new marriage, Henry embarks on a journey of self discovery to settle ill feelings before time runs out.

 

 

250-Word Synopsis

 

Once Beautiful Past tells the story of Henry Hall, a reclusive librarian in 1980 Berkeley California who discovers that he has the onset of Alzheimer’s disease on the eve of his second marriage. Set at a time of national distress over the Iran hostage crisis and the impending election of a new president, the story parallels feelings of separation and captivity as personalized through the relationship of a father and daughter who are in their own right hostages of their past. Henry’s quiet life is turned upside down when details of his wife’s death fourteen years’ prior compound growing tension between his fiancé and estranged daughter. Preparations for Thanksgiving preceding a hasty marriage in Reno prove disastrous as Henry’s condition worsens and his daughter’s abusive relationship with an older man reaches the point of no return. Risking everything for one more chance to be a good father, Henry reveals a secret about the car accident to his daughter that he hopes will mend their broken relationship. But Henry’s unsympathetic and selfish girlfriend stands in the way of a happy reunion and he is forced to choose between the daughter he left behind and a new marriage without her. Henry embarks on a journey of self discovery to settle ill feelings before time runs out.