Irina Korzh

ABOUT THE PROJECT

1,000 YEARS OF WISDOM documentary is a collective insight of people over 70 around the world and the lives they lived.

The choices we make in our adult life effect hundreds of people around us and our grandparents have been through love, passion, loss and tragedy. But do they share common similarities across cultures? 

Traveling through places with uncommon histories, filmmakers Thom Holt and Irina Korzh aim to explore how our elders still have influence over their lives.

So far we have interviewed an aviator-explorer, Russian migrant who committed her life to her husband and children, and have scheduled to interview an American painter living in Greece. Irina will be interviewing her grandmother in Ukraine who is turning 90 in a few months - a survivor of the Stalin induced famine that killed over 7 million people.

It is a fact that almost 90% of seniors involved within a community feel it improves their overall well-being.

1,000 YEARS OF WISDOM aims to unite and empower all of our grandparents.

We have a wide network of musicians, filmmakers and artists -all of whom support this project whole heartedly.

We are aiming to have the film completed by December 2013.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

We have put in our own $12,000 plus basic equipment to make this feature length documentary and bring these incredible stories to you. This will cover most travel costs.

We need to raise another $6,500 (at least) for extra equipment such as camera lenses and lighting, so that we can bring our documentary a cinematic touch, further funds will be put towards professional sound, editing, interpreters, festival submission, marketing and travel to remote and isolated areas.

Please contribute to this project and help us give it extra, much needed legs.

This page will only be up for 30 days so please spread the word.

If we miss our goal, we get NOTHING.

FROM THE DIRECTORS:

I have lost two grandparents and this made me realise that they give the best kind of unconditional love - loving you for just you. My grandmother taught me how to cook her special "scrambled eggs",  a recipe that will carry over through generations... After my uncle passed away this year, I have stumbled upon an article about a palliative nurse who recorded the 5 top regrets of the dying. Things like "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me" and "I wish I had the courage to express my feelings" stood out. I have decided to leave everything and focus on finding pearls of wisdom as I travel. And who else could give a better advice but people who lived much longer than me or my parents?

- Irina 

When Irina told me about the project I just had to be involved. Although my grandfather has written a memoir of his life I can't help but wish his accounts were told by him on screen. Speaking to Peter Clemence (one of my grandfathers closest life-long friends) and Vera Kojevnikova has reinstated how important their stories are and that they need to be told. It has been nothing short of heartbreaking to cut their stories down for the pitch video above as you can't help but have a strong emotional connection to them. I can't wait to hear more stories like theirs and to hear what advice they have for us. 

 - Thom 

Please support us to make this dream come true. If you can't afford to donate, than please share this project

For our credibility, please check Thom's IMDB website here and Irina's website here