BBC
Residents of Elmwood Retirement Village are preparing for the premiere of a documentary about their lives.
Residents of reclusive villages rarely star in their own films, but not all of them live with former journalists.
But now residents of Elmwood Retirement Village in Stafford are preparing for the red carpet premiere of a film about their lives.
Peter Underwood, a former reporter who worked on Years of Life, says it is an important and necessary way to capture people’s lives.
“It’s important to have something in there, not just for the people we live with here, but for the families and the general public,” he said.
Residents happily dressed up to enjoy the premiere in their village at a later date, and the documentary and residents’ stories will also be archived at Staffordshire Record Office for future generations to see.
Mr Underwood said the opportunity to digitally archive residents’ lives and memories also allowed him to learn how to use new technology.
“This is an ongoing process. Compressing your entire life into 30 minutes is interesting, but very difficult,” he explained.
“It’s never easy to talk about yourself, but it’s great to be able to help others do so and help the people you live with understand yourself better.” I think that would be a good thing if possible.”
Former Hells Angel Steven Rhoden stars in the film and said the experience of telling his story made him reevaluate some of the decisions he made in his life.
“The community here would benefit better from knowing about the other members who live here,” he said.
Among those featured is Stephen Rhoden, who became a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in the 1990s. He said the film made him “evaluate a period of my life.”
He joked, “I don’t have any pictures from my time with the Hells Angels, but that’s probably a good thing.”
But soon after, he said, “I’m done.”
“I came out, went back to church, found a nice woman and got married,” he added.
