Familiar Touch

12A

Ruth Goldman, played by Kathleen Chalfant, an older woman living with dementia who leaves home believing she is heading out on a date. Instead, she arrives at what she slowly realises is an assisted living facility. The unfamiliar surroundings, strict routines and shifting perceptions begin to fracture her understanding of reality, creating a deeply intimate portrait of memory, ageing, and identity. Ruth struggles to identify with the elderly residents around her, while gradually forming connections with the care workers who support her day-to-day life. A former cook, Ruth rediscovers a sense of agency and purpose while preparing meals in the facility kitchen. Through food, touch and sensory experiences, fragments of her younger selves resurface like scattered photographs floating back into view. Yet as the truth of her situation becomes unavoidable, Ruth feels betrayed and attempts to escape in search of something she can still recognise as home.Winner of Best Director, Best Debut Film and Best Actress at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.