Lights, Camera, Action! Resident Movie Calendar Project a Whole Lot of Fun

A touch of Hollywood came to Christadelphian Aged Care's Homes and Villages this year as residents recreated their favourite movie scenes for very special calendar. 

The mother of a Hollywood actor was the catalyst for a major photography project involving residents from Christadelphian Homes and Villages this year.

Marianne Edgerton, mother of Australian actor Joel Edgerton and volunteer at Ashburn House in Gladesville, suggested the idea of creating a movie calendar after spotting a similar project while on holidays overseas.

"I saw it in America and I thought wow, that is amazing, we’ve got to do that with our residents, it would be so much fun for them, and would make a great Christmas gift for families to have a calendar with their mum or pop in it," Marianne said.

The idea was for each Home and Village to choose a movie scene a few residents could recreate for a photo shoot, with the photos to make up each month of a 2017 calendar that would be given to residents for Christmas.

Marianne is no stranger to films, with her son Joel regularly strolling the red carpet after having starred in moves such as The Great Gatsby and Star Wars, along with her other son Nash who is a successful director.

As a volunteer at Ashburn House Marianne puts on movies for the residents, and provides popcorn, choc tops and often dresses up so they can enjoy the full theatre experience. 

Leisure and Lifestyle Coordinator Tara Plaisance ran with the calendar idea and worked with each Home to come up with a movie scene residents could recreate.

"At the time I was looking for a project we could put in place across all of our Homes so our residents could have a bit of fun with each other," she said.

Many of the Homes chose movies that had a special link with the residents.

"Casa Mia chose Rocky because one of their residents Jack was actually a boxer so that made it really personal," Tara said.

"Southhaven chose Mamma Mia because that is their favourite movie and they are always having sing-a-longs."

"I love that they're taking it further and sharing it with broader community," she said.

Tara joined with Marketing and Communications manager Jenny Galbraith and a professional photographer to set up 13 photo shoots over three days, including four at Courtlands Village.

After the shoots backgrounds similar to ones from the movies were put in behind the residents to create a more realistic look.

"It  was awesome after all the planning and schedules to finally do the photo shoots with the residents," Tara said.

"It's what made it real. It was the magic twinkle in their eye as they enjoyed dressing up."

Staff at Christadelphian Aged Care's head office even got involved in the project, and chose Home Alone as their movie, which will be the photo for December.

"It's a project that kept on giving," Tara said.

"Not only did our residents enjoy the photo shoots and the whole calendar project, but as each month goes by in the new year and they change the page they can reconnect and engage with the activity again."

The calendars will be given to each resident with limited copies available at reception at each of Christadelphian Aged Care's Homes.