Extravaganza and glamour lining up in an existential contest against isolation, slackening limbs and lethargy. With unique access behind the scenes, the Palace in Miami is shown as a buzzing and luxurious senior living community, repeatedly voted "American's Number One". The seniors live in a world full of parties and entertainment, but the Palace is also a thriving business.... Who said that old age has to be boring? Golden Age opens the doors to the Palace, a retirement home of the kind that you have never seen before, in Miami. Gildings, ostentatious chandeliers, marble floors; like a cross between a luxury hotel and an Americanized copy of Versailles, the place is presented by its developers as the most beautiful retirement home in the US. The residents here are pampered by an army of employees devoted to their every whim, in a permanent party atmosphere. This abundance of luxury, extravagance and entertainment is nonetheless not enough to remove the anxieties of those who live there. Nor can it hide the intention of the investors for whom old age is above all source of income and a growing market. Golden Age takes us on a journey into this baroque universe which tries to suppress the fear of death through dollars, questioning, in a dizzying visual whirlwind, our relationship to old age in its most universal aspect.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BEAT OSWALD

1. How and why did you become a documentary filmmaker?
A. In 2010 I had the opportunity to accompany a film crew to Greenland. And I was hooked. Not so much by filmmaking itself, but by the way the world opens up if one sets out on an adventure with a clear intellectual focus.

2. What makes a good documentary?
A. I guess that depends on individual tastes. But for me personally, I am always interested in - whatever the human endeavor - in something unusual. Even to the extend that I prefer an unusual idea that isn't carried off as well to one that is normal and carried off letter-perfect.

3. Why did you make "Golden Age" and what were the key challenges you faced making the film?
A. I created Golden Age because I wanted to portrait the essence of a unique time in human history. There never was and probably never again will be a time in which seniors get to live their last stage of life as consumers. To me, this movie is a time document captured in a society with a specific constellation of demographics, economy and believe system.

4. What's next for you? What projects are you currently working on?
A. In Winter 2024, I am finishing an essayistic documentary in which I reflect upon the longing for stability and the need for change in the context of nature and culture. The story is told through a diary-like reflection of a young man who sets out to find wolves in the Swiss Alps because he is bored of his safe life in civilization.