Facing the Wind Documentary Screening

A Film About Love, Life and Dementia

Join us for a screening of the "Facing the Wind" Documentary as well as a Q&A session with producer, Tony Heriza and documentary spouse, Linda Szypula. Light food and drink refreshments will be served prior to the screening. See below for full agenda details.

Explore the challenges and struggles of two women, whose lives are irrevocably changed by their husbands’ diagnosis with Lewy body dementia (LBD) —a widespread, but little-known condition.

About the Film:

After struggling to find information about her husband’s disease, Linda Szypula starts a podcast about LBD with Curry Wisenhunt, a Texan truck driver, who also has the disease. Their efforts grow into a unique online support community for those living with the disease and those caring for them. In a support group, Linda meets Carla Preyer, who has just quit her job to care for her husband Patrick. They bond over their shared challenges and the dark humor they use to cope.

Linda and Jim plan a “go-for-broke” road trip to see the country and visit friends from the support group. But only weeks into the trip, things begin to go awry, as Jim struggles with the travel. Meanwhile, Carla plans a ceremony to renew her wedding vows, but Patrick takes a turn for the worse. As their husbands begin to disappear into dementia, Linda and Carla grow closer. Their friendship and their connection to the support group help them deal with their grief, rise to the demands of caregiving, and emerge whole on the other side.

Linda Szypula, 57, had a tough childhood, but when she met Jim Szypula everything changed. They had three beautiful kids and an idyllic family life. When Jim’s Lewy body dementia fractures that picture, Linda does everything possible to hold the disease at bay – and hold herself together. She worries that she won’t be able to be there for Jim when he needs her most.

PRODUCER Tony Heriza is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and teacher with a lifetime commitment to the power of media to spark social change. A member-owner of New Day Films, he has produced and distributed films on a wide range of social issues and has twice been chosen as a filmmaker envoy for the U. S. State Department’s American Film Showcase. Tony produced Care (2016) and co-produced and directed Concrete, Steel and Paint (2009) and Art of Survival (2024).

We welcome you to make a donation to the Lewy Body Dementia Resource Center.Click here to make your donation: https://lewybodyresourcecenter.org/donate/