Fiona Birt, Remarkable Life (DOCO 2023)

A combination of Covid and bad luck with flight cancellations meant I was unable to visit my dad in NZ for over two years. The last time I was able to cross the Tasman he was still living independently, happy as a pig in mud and as fit as a fiddle. He kept his days full pottering around his home and in his garden. He frequently commented on what a lucky life he led, and he chuckled incessantly. In 2021 he slipped in the bathroom and broke his femur in two places. After a spell in hospital, he was moved into a care home as he was no longer able to manage on his own. With the loss of his independence, Covid lockdowns confining him to his prison-like room with four white walls closing in on him and very little to do, life lost all pleasure. The decline of his mental and physical state was swift. Life had become insanely boring. With no visitors permitted for months due to strict Covid lockdowns – family members were not even permitted to see him on his 99th birthday – there was nothing much left to live for. This series documents a two-week period in March and April 2022 after NZ opened its borders and I finally got to visit. The scene doesn’t change much from day to day – the same chair, the same white walls. A fresh cup of tea or a small glass of wine were his only remaining pleasures. He didn’t even want to eat any more. I cried on my final visit; it was clear to me that I would never see him again. Two weeks after my return to Australia, at the grand age of 99 years and 6 months, Dad took his last breath and left this world behind. A piece of my heart went with him.

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