Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Filmmaker Jeroen Wolf of Imagine Video has once again created a fascinating look at aging with a short film titled 50 Turned 60. In the three-and-a-half-minute video, he captures a group of 50-year-olds saying the Dutch word for “50” and places them side by side with their future selves as 60-year-olds saying the word “60.” In this way, we see how 10 years of life has made an impact on this group, in a video Wolf waited a decade to complete.
Patience is something that Wolf is familiar with as a filmmaker. In 2012, he went viral for his 0-100 video, where he captured people of 100 different ages in Amsterdam. He expanded that series across the world, but for 50 Turned 60 he looked closer to home.
As he was about to turn 50 himself, he began asking friends from school to participate in a film called 50×50. Wolf then decided that he'd revisit them at 60 to make a film called 60×60. However, when he viewed the footage, he realized how special it was to see these familiar faces side by side, and the project transformed into 50 Turned 60. In watching the clip, it's impossible not to smile, particularly as we get a glimpse of everyone's personality in the way they speak. This was something that also struck the filmmaker.
“I was very surprised that many people have the exact same mannerisms as 10 years earlier: they raise their eyebrows the same way, they laugh the same way, their intonation is identical, and they use their mouths the same way,” he tells My Modern Met. “It's as if they remembered the way they said it a decade earlier.”
Wolf also noted that many of the participants actually looked better with age, noting that it was “like they had found themselves, were more at ease with themselves.”
In doing the piece, Wolf hoped to tap into our universal connection as humans. By using regular people, he moves away from the stereotypes of who we typically see on film and allows us to see ourselves reflected. “I hope I can bring people together by introducing them to one another in this simple, unpretentious way.”
While some of the original participants in the documentary have since passed away, Wolf continues to forge ahead with the project, looking forward to this reunion where old friends can catch up and share their stories. It will take another 10 years, but Wolf fully intends to get the group together once again to celebrate 70 years, so stay tuned for 50 Turned 60 Turned 70. It may be a while, but it will be worth the wait.
Filmmaker Jeroen Wolf decided to document his old schoolmates when they all turned 50 and then again a decade later at 60.
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
He compiled it all into side-by-side footage that is a beautiful commentary on the aging process.
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Despite the footage being 10 years apart, Wolf says that many of his old schoolmates actually look better with age.
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
He says, it was “like they had found themselves, were more at ease with themselves.”
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
“I was very surprised that many people have the exact same mannerisms as 10 years earlier: they raise their eyebrows the same way, they laugh the same way, their intonation is identical, and they use their mouths the same way.”
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Watch the 3.5-minute short film, 50 Turned 60:
Imagine Video: Website | YouTube | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos and videos by Jeroen Wolf.
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