Legendary Toronto documentarian Allan King has done it again. In his new film, Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company, which makes its world premiere at TIFF 2005, King shatters stereotypes and challenges the viewer to rethink preconceived notions and negative attitudes. It is King’s trademark, a style recognized around the world for nearly 40 years.

King, 75, started his career with the CBC in Vancouver nearly 50 years ago. From there, he went to Spain and eventually London, working with other filmmakers on both fiction and fact, and became a pioneer in the innovative techniques of cinema vérité.

Memory is King’s most recent effort in the genre of ‘actuality drama.’ His first foray into the genre, Warrendale (1967), was filmed at a residential treatment center for disturbed children outside Toronto. ‘I wanted to capture life as it really was,’ he explains. The footage was raw, shocking and revealing. When it was handed over to the Ontario government, it caused a political furor and CBC refused to air it.

King continued to direct more actuality dramas, including: A Married Couple (1969), a stark portrayal of a marriage in crisis; Come On Children (1973), about youth in isolation away from adults; Who’s in Charge Here? (1983), a look at unemployment; and the widely acclaimed Dying at Grace (2003), a sensitive documentary on palliative care.

King’s films consistently cast light on the shadowy sides of our lives, exposing disturbing facts and events, and stirring up controversy. Memory will prove no exception. Commissioned by TVOntario, the poignant doc follows the lives of eight residents of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto over a period of four months. Grappling with various forms of memory loss, the subjects experience a range of emotions, fluctuating from hilarity to violence to despair.

One of the residents says, ‘When you’re 80, you have the privilege to forget what you want.’ King agrees, adamantly maintaining that ‘You don’t lose your mind, you lose your cognitive skills. Aging does affect memory, but people do not lose their feelings, which are in fact often stronger, more expressive and direct. The word ‘dementia’ is like a boogieman, causing anxiety, fear and anger. I want to shatter the stereotypes about dementia. We do not lose our feelings, our identity, or our need for love, attention, and respect as we lose cognitive skills.’

As always, King’s deep insight into the human condition is evident. With no interviews or narration in the telling of their story, he captures the Baycrest residents as they live day-to-day.

King’s next doc will be about something that again deeply affects him, and that is why so few people have so much authority.

‘It’s changing the way Canadian documentaries are being made,’ he says. ‘There are more rules, more regulations. People are trying to tell you what to do and how to do it. Thirty years ago, we spent a generation creating independence. Now we’re living in a corporate state run by bureaucrats. It’s more difficult today to make a good documentary.’

His advice to young docmakers is as clear and direct as his films: ‘Stick to your guns. Learn to say no. Be authors – take authority and responsibility for your work.’