In this moving personal narrative, filmmaker Banker White turns his camera on two generations of women in his family. White shares daily life with his mother Pam, who is steadily succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease. Pam is acutely aware of her fate and launches an urgent project to preserve the legacy of her mother Marian, a celebrated artist who died of the same disease. She is in a race against time as her encroaching condition threatens to wipe out her precious memories. Weaving past into present, the film retraces both women’s lives to construct a powerful and multi-layered exploration of motherhood, chronic illness and personal legacy. Intimate and raw, The Genius of Marian is a fitting tribute to both women.

—Dan Hunt

Directed by

Banker White and Anna Fitch