Synopsis

Aging is too often portrayed as a time of obsolescence, especially for women. Filmmaker Azza Cohen’s 82-year-old grandma is having none of that. “Everything is an attitude; we can't act old.”

Join the magnetic Bubbe as she tackles her bucket list and bravely strips down, wrestles on a wetsuit, and learns to swim. Sure, she’s got aches and pains and an inadequate Medicare plan like any octogenarian. But instead of kvetching, Bubbe embraces her wrinkles, varicose veins, and "hangy buzzies” and dives headfirst into a pool of possibility. “It’s all been fun,” she assures us.

Jump in with her — the water’s warm.

Festival Selections & Awards

  • 2023 FLICKERS’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, Aug. 12

    • FIRST Prize, The Marlyn Mason Award for new voices, new perspectives by women in film

  • 2023 DC Shorts International Film Festival, Sept. 24

    • Winner, Best Documentary Short Award

    • Winner, Audience Favorite Award

  • 2023 The Women’s Film Festival, Sept. 28

  • 2023 Austin Film Festival, Oct. 28 & Nov. 1

A note from Director Azza Cohen

FLOAT! is both a documentary portrait and a home movie. Shortly into filming, I realized it would be impossible to maintain the fourth wall because my grandma would interrupt me constantly to propose ideas, ask if I was cold or hungry, or ask for help. So much of her humor and candor in the film was grounded in our relationship, which deepened in newly vulnerable ways — an intimacy which shines through on screen.

The summer before I made FLOAT!, I came out as queer. The filmmaking process played a pivotal role in my heart-wrenching yet liberating journey. I hadn’t yet told my grandparents when we started filming, and a mentor encouraged me to be as authentic with them as they were being with me. While I endured the rest of my family struggling to adjust, Bubby and Poppy accepted me fiercely and unequivocally.

Making a film about my grandma processing her changing body also helped me understand why the traditional notions of femininity that she and my mom imparted never quite fit. Before she was my Bubbe, she was Judy Miller, the daughter of Jewish immigrants who worked seven days a week to put food on the table. Judy learned to be a nice American girl — a beautiful, charismatic leg model who never left the house without “putting her face on” and was always too “busy doing everything for everybody else” to take care of herself.

But at 82, Bubbe has the perspective and wisdom to teach us to love and prioritize ourselves at every stage. “You have to get my age to appreciate your age,” she reflects. “There should be less importance to how one looks, rather than how one has lived.”

I hope to bring my life-affirming film to audiences of all kinds all around the world, because I know that just 17 minutes with Bubbe will make their day and could even change their lives.