The film ‘Human Forever’ by Teun Toebes from Best has been awarded the ‘Krystal Film Award’ for 10,000 visitors. 24-year-old Teun is in perfect health but has been living in a closed ward among elderly people with dementia for three years. In Human Forever he travels around the world with friend and filmmaker Jonathan de Jong to see how people live with dementia.
The Crystal Film Award is presented when a documentary attracts 10,000 or more visitors to the cinema. ‘Human Forever’ premiered on November 2. The prize has only been awarded six times before this year.
In the film, Teun travels around the world with filmmaker Jonathan de Jong. Together they investigate how dementia is dealt with in the world. The film was shown in twenty Pathé cinemas. The documentary can also be seen in other cinemas from December.
‘No words can describe’
For Teun, his goal has been successful. “Jonathan and I’s dream 3.5 years ago was to make dementia an important topic. The fact that we have succeeded in this cannot be described in words. We are very grateful for every visitor and hope to touch many more hearts with our hopeful film.”
Teun has been living among elderly people with dementia in a closed ward for three years. Since he first came there seven years ago, he has had a mission: a more dignified existence for the residents. During his trip around the world, he saw that, unlike in the Netherlands, elderly people with dementia are not immediately declared ‘socially dead’ in many countries. According to him, there are much better initiatives that he wants to work for.
Watch an interview with Teun below with some images from the documentary: