• 8706 Sat, 16 Aug 2025 15:30:00 @ ACMI 1
• 8994 Wed, 20 Aug 2025 18:15:00 @ Kino 1
• 9007 Sun, 24 Aug 2025 13:15:00 @ Kino 1

Director: Sue Thomson
Producer: Adam Farrington-Williams,Lola Nankervis,Sue Thomson
Screenwriter: Adam Farrington-Williams,Sue Thomson
Cinematographer: Ben Bryan
Composer: Mark D’Angelo
Editor: Uri Mizrahi
Featured Subjects: Margaret Thomson,Olivia Cornwell,Jane Cornwell,Sarah Holland-Batt,Beverly,Hanh Vu,Linda Ford,Luciana Martini,Mario Martini

In a country where ageing has become a business, this funny, moving documentary follows elderly people’s fight to grow old their way.

When director Sue Thomson’s 89-year-old mum, Margaret, begins to need additional help with day-to-day life, they face a decision that most families will encounter: whether to consider a residential aged-care facility; and, if so, how to find a suitable one amid a sector with a reputation for neglect and mistreatment. Margaret’s story becomes a springboard for an investigation of the political history of aged care in Australia, marred by a 40-year bipartisan privatisation agenda. As we hear from advocates, journalists and senior citizens who have experienced the system, a group of schoolkids discuss the situation we’ve reached with aged care and where we need to go from here – and of what they, and we, can expect in the future.

Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund, this documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomson (The Coming Back Out Ball Movie, MIFF 2018 Closing Night Gala; Under Cover, MIFF 2022) and produced by Adam Farrington-Williams (Geeta, MIFF 2021) is a warm, insightful and energetic exploration of a problem that touches us all. Through observational footage, archival materials, home movies and interviews, Careless issues a timely and powerful response to a hidden crisis.

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Director Sue Thomson and producer Adam Farrington-Williams are guests of the festival and will be in attendance at all metropolitan sessions of the film, along with the Saturday 23 August Theatre Royal Castlemaine session. Co-producer Lola Nankervis is also a guest of the festival and will be in attendance at the Saturday 16 August session.