Ms. Alabama Nursing Home is a 42-minute documentary that screened during the SXSW 2003 film festival. Director Anne Paas followed her great aunt Helen during her participation in the Ms. Nursing Home Alabama contest. Within the film, Paas explores a variety of issues, including care of the elderly and racism.

NANCY SEMIN: I found the end scene, where your aunt makes a comment that could be described as “genteel racism” as one of the audience members referred to it. Were you startled by your aunt’s comments?

Anne Paas: I grew up in Minnesota, and her older sister lived in Minnesota with us, and I was very aware that she had, I think it’s gentle to call it “genteel racism,” I think it’s outright racism which I’ve always railed against, so I wasn’t surprised she was saying those comments. I think before she said that she looked at me and said, “I probably shouldn’t put this on tape.” I said, “Why do you think you didn’t win?” and she said, “Well, I probably shouldn’t put this on tape.” I said, “No, go ahead, it’s fine.” And then she said, like, “It’s kind of fixed,” and she went on to say it. So I think she was aware that her racism was not going to be accepted, but I think it goes to show how disappointed, how bitter she was, and what form of bitterness came out.

NS: I think what’s so startling, and why it’s such an interesting thing that you inserted, I think as an audience member, you never really see it coming. She’s just a sweet, old lady, and then you get that comment, and there’s kind of that hushed silence, so I thought it was a great technique, but that brings me to the second question. But you don’t at any point, in a lot of documentaries, you can hear the director asking a question and your voice is pretty much absent. Was that a conscious choice?

AP: Yeah, it was. I mean I love the verité documentary technique of the Maysles brothers and Pennebaker. And I think unless my voice was needed, I felt I wasn’t the subject of the documentary. I was trying to follow her and be as true to what I was witnessing as possible. So, that’s the reason I chose not to put my voice in. At the beginning you hear it, you hear it at the peach stand, she says, “Anne, get me some of those peaches.”

NS: I didn’t hear that actually.

AP: I think you’re very aware that she’s aware of me, because she says, “I’ll see you in the morning.” But otherwise I tried to keep myself as much out of it as possible.

NS: What about the fact that, well we know that she is your relative, because you tell us at the end [during the Q&A] but do you have any plans to insert that information, or did you make a specific choice to leave that you?

AP: I think I had access to her because she’s my relative, and there is a certain rapport, but I hope in no way that influenced me in terms of how I depicted her. For me she was just another documentary subject.

NS: So during the Q&A you said that you felt, if you had the chance to develop the film further, there were more complex issues you would like to bring to the fore. What sort of ideas do you have?

AP: I felt there were several themes I tried to have come across in the documentary, but were at the forefront, one of them is the different agendas people have. You see Pat Glazier, who is the head of activities and she is consistently drilling Helen, and telling her “You have to practice the questions, what are we going to say, what are you going to say, Helen, try to make things come out as clear as possible.” And that’s one of the reasons I think she stumbles, too, because she’s been drilled so hard. And I think that would be an aspect to look into, if I did a longer feature, I think racism is another issue, because for example. It’s interesting because it’s very complex in the South. Older people have grown up in a different era, and how do they try to assimilate it into some sort of… event that takes place in modern days, some of the questions they ask. What about the help, that’s another thing. You could see some of the people had no idea what was going on, and they dressed them up and brought them in and were parading them around, and to whose benefit is it? I think another question, the beauty pageant. I have a dislike of beauty pageants, but it was really interesting to see that it was actually giving them something to live for, not just to look forward to, but to live for, because for older people, if they have something to look forward to, they actually are able to live longer, so it was that balance that I think was interesting.

NS: What about issues of ageism? Did you feel there’s a social agenda that way within the film?

AP: Ageism in terms of…

NS: Dispelling prejudices about older people?

AP: I think people don’t spend enough time with older people. I think older people are complex, and people tend to treat them like children, and you see that in the film, and it’s definitely, my great aunt is hard to handle sometimes because of her short temper, but she’s a whole person and I think it’s important that people realize that.

NS: What plans do you have for distribution?

AP: This was the second screening at South By Southwest, so I would love to be picked up, but no plans at this point.