For several years, Jim Vanden Bosch, founder and Executive Director of Terra Nova Films, and Rick Scheidt, Professor, Department of Applied Human Sciences, Kansas State University, have been reviewing films for The Gerontologist, a journal of The Gerontological Society of America (GSA). Through a special arrangement with The Gerontologist, this website is now able to provide free access to these reviews.
About our Primary Reviewers
Jim Vanden Bosch
On Reviewing Films:
“I believe films can have a lasting Impact on the way we view aging. I’m particularly interested in calling attention to the way that films either advance a more holistic and balanced perception of elderhood, or that, often unwittingly, promote an ageist perception of older adulthood. My hope is that the reviews I write will contribute to a healthier and more accepting view of elderhood.”
About Jim:
Jim Vanden Bosch is the founder and executive director of Terra Nova Films. In addition to producing videos, he presents multimedia workshops on caregiving, culture change, and film all across the country and abroad. He has been reviewing films for nine years.
In His Spare Time…
Jim can be found tending his two vegetable gardens, hiking in local forest preserves, and occasionally hiking coastal paths in Great Britain. He lives near Chicago on a small wooded acreage with his wife and their cat and bunny.
Rick Scheidt
On Reviewing Films:
“I believe that films may serve as powerful case studies illustrating the diverse opportunities that aging affords each of us. As Neugarten noted, there is no “the elderly”. Lives fan out in later adulthood. People grow more different with age. Thus, I enjoy reviewing films that share examples of possible rather than probable life outcomes. Also, when I can, I like to use my reviews to link these filmic case studies to current issues in life course science and gerontological education.”
About Rick:
Rick Scheidt is a geropsychologist in the Department of Applied Human Sciences at Kansas State University. His research and scholarship focus largely on environmental gerontology and the ecology of aging. He has studied older rural residents of small declining communities (“ghost town project”) for more than 30 years. He has been reviewing films for the last nine years.
In His Spare Time . . .
Rick enjoys amateur archaeology, particularly visiting sites in Italy and the Southwestern U.S. He enjoys tending a small flower garden, especially watching the bees work the tiny blossoms of the Russian sage. As a professional in an instructional group, he teaches armed self-defense to civilians and government personnel. He lives with his wife, Mary, on a hilltop that overlooks the tall grass prairie in the scenic Flint Hills of Kansas.