By Caitlyn Meisner | cmeisner@alextimes.com

The 8-minute short dramedy, “Gloria’s Birthday,” by a slew of creative women details the struggles of dementia – both for family members and the person themselves.

Made by local women who are part of the Women in Film & Video D.C. nonprofit, an organization dedicated to connecting screen-based creatives of all genders, experience and genres in the DMV to provide educational and network-ing opportunities.

The film follows Joanie, who grew up in New York City in the mid-20th century, as she battles with dementia in the present day. Opening on a beautiful sunny day, Joanie begins telling one of her tales of early adulthood, thick accent and all.

Joanie details one of her many adventures with her sister, Gloria, during their glory days in the city to some friends, as her teenage granddaughter sits in the background on her cellphone. Joanie is overly animated and takes her audience – both her friends and those watching – back to that time period.

With the backdrop of vintage photographs and music, Joanie details a wild time with Gloria as she looks for an apartment in the East Village, only to find out the place was a dump and a few expletives were thrown.

But, as she is brought home by her daughter and granddaughter, it becomes obvious that Joanie has dementia: she becomes distraught when told Gloria had died and Joanie had nearly missed her sister’s birthday.

Joanie’s granddaughter continuously attempts to distract the elderly woman with videos from her past dance recitals, but Joanie’s mind can’t leave Gloria for more than a moment.

Although never shown, Gloria is a character of her own. It’s clear in this true story but fictionalized portrayal that Joanie and Gloria were two peas in a pod; one was never without the other, possibly throughout their entire lives.

This part of the film struck me as a viewer, as I’m sure it did with many others, because almost everyone has an experience or story to tell about someone who has or had dementia or memory loss of some sort.

For me, I was transported back to the times I spoke with my grandmother, who suffers from short-term memory loss. We’d be sitting together, speaking in great detail about how she met my grandfather when she was just a young teenager, but she often forgot who I was.

It felt as though the quickness of this short film – and the length of each scene – perfectly encapsulated the moments we all share with people losing their memory. The minutes where one may tell a story from the past are fleeting, but trying to remind them of who they are now is painstakingly difficult to get through.