THE BUBBLE
2021, Documentary, 92'/52'
Director: Valerie Blankenbyl
In co-production with Golden Girl Film, Austria (Karin C. Berger & Arash T. Riahi), SRG/SRF and ORF
World Sales: Deckert Distribution
Release CH: 29. April 2021
Festivals (selection):
Visions du Réel 2021, International Competition
Welcome to Florida’s Friendliest Hometown. The Bubble explores senior citizen life within The Villages, America’s largest retirement community; a 84-square kilometer, sun-drenched, beautifully maintained, gated Floridian paradise housing over 150,000 retirees.
Retired life beneath the year-round Floridian sunshine however, is not perhaps as idyllic, or as welcomed, as many ageing Villagers and viewers may imagine. The Bubble reveals how those beyond the community’s sealed gateways are being profoundly displaced by The Villages’ endless desire for land, water, and regional control.
Illustrating many of the nation’s most combative dialogues regarding class imbalance, racial inequality, healthcare privatisation, political affiliation, state responsibility, and civic obligation, The Bubble offers viewers an engaging contemplation of American ways of life, ageing, and death.
Further information: www.thebubble.ch