Kristof Bilsen’s new film is about western Alzheimer’s patients in Thailand. He explains the ‘western gaze’ – and why his film struck a deeply personal chord
‘It’s easy for people to say, ‘We should all care for our loved ones’,” says Kristof Bilsen “But what happens when you can’t?” For his new documentary, Mother, the 39-year-old Belgian travelled to northern
Thailand to film at Baan Kamlangchay, a centre for westerners with Alzheimer’s whose families have left them in the hands of Thai caregivers.
The political was very personal for Bilsen. During the three years he made the film, his own mother Rosemarijn was in decline with dementia. “My dad tried to give her home care but he’s 78, so it proved overwhelming,” Bilsen says. “So he visited her a lot in an old persons’ home. The subject of the film is very close to me – the frustration of not being able to care for our most beloved.”