Documentary films built around the lived experience of dementia in Ireland. Three projects. Real people. No scripts.
The Alzheimer Society of Ireland is Ireland’s leading dementia-specific support organisation, providing day care, home care, dementia advisers, social clubs, carer training, respite support and the National Helpline for people living with dementia, their families and carers across the country.
Our work with ASI began differently to most client relationships. At an early stage of Van Rose Studios, we reached out to ASI with a simple offer: to create a film for them at no cost, in support of the organisation and the people they help. Dementia was already a subject close to us personally, with family experience of dementia and early signs of it within our own lives. That personal connection shaped the tone of the work from the beginning.
The first project became a film about one of ASI’s Cork centres. A few months later, ASI returned with a paid campaign built around three real-life stories: Tony, Muriel and Marguerite. What began as a portfolio piece became an ongoing creative relationship built around trust, sensitivity and story-led filmmaking.
The first ASI project began as an outreach piece from Van Rose Studios. We approached the organisation directly because the cause felt personally meaningful, offering to create a film for them at no cost.
Rather than explain what ASI does from the outside, the film turns the camera on the people who show up every day. Staff speak in their own words about why they chose this work, what keeps them in it, and what the small moments actually feel like. One person entered care because of their own mother’s experience with dementia. Another talks about a smile and a handshake being enough. The film captures a team that works towards the same goal without needing it spelled out.
The approach was quiet and documentary-led. No performance. No script. Just people being honest about something they care about. This project became the starting point of the relationship with ASI.
A few months after the Cork centre film, ASI returned with a paid project built around three real-life stories connected to dementia. The brief was to create a story-led film for use at a fundraising event, supported by shorter versions and social media assets. The goal was to emotionally connect with potential donors without relying on direct calls to action throughout the film.
Each story brought a different perspective, but the wider message was consistent: dementia is not only a medical condition. It changes homes, routines, relationships and the way people care for one another. The film needed to help an audience feel that reality without being told what to feel.
The work was built around real interviews and natural moments. Contributors were given space to speak in their own words. The edit focused on emotional rhythm rather than forced drama: the way someone speaks about a loved one, the pauses between thoughts, the practical things that become acts of care. The result was a film designed to sit closer to documentary than charity advertising.
Following the main film, ASI returned to Tony’s story for a Christmas donor campaign built around a donor letter. The campaign needed video content that could sit alongside that letter in donor emails and on social media, encouraging donations while inviting people to read more of Tony’s story.
Tony speaks about caring for Mary from morning to night, learning how to support her properly through ASI’s training, the stress that led him to hospital, and the difference ASI’s day care services made to both of their lives. The key message was clear: their love is powerful, but love alone is not enough.
The campaign work focused on careful reshaping rather than starting again. We reviewed the donor letter, revisited the full interview and built a structure that allowed Tony’s story to work across multiple short pieces, each focused on a distinct emotional chapter.
The work with ASI sits very close to the kind of storytelling Van Rose was built for. It is not about dressing things up. It is about finding the truth inside real experience and presenting it with care.
These stories involve illness, memory, family, fear, humour, exhaustion and love. The subject required sensitivity at every stage. The craft is in knowing when to shape a piece, when to hold back and when to let a moment breathe.
The films were created to support ASI’s communication and fundraising work, but they were also built to respect the people at the centre of them. Real people speaking in their own words. The camera close to human detail. Emotion built through structure, pacing and restraint, not manufactured.