Disneyland for seniors - a documentary

From Sunday Morning, 9:40 am on 26 June 2022

9:37 'Disneyland for seniors' - the largest retirement village in the world 

'The Villages' is the world's largest retirement community. It's in Florida. Here are some of the statistics: it has supermarkets, bars and restaurants. It has 3,000 social clubs and not just exercise classes, you can do everything from belly dancing to synchronised swimming. There are 54 golf courses, 70 swimming pools, 96 recreation centres, a newspaper, radio station, TV station, schools for the children of the staff, a plastic surgery clinic. You can live in actual stand-alone houses, not just small units.

Valerie Blankenbyl is an Austrian documentary filmmaker and  a journalist who lives outside the Villages.

She has made a documentary film "The Bubble", playing as part of the Doc Edge Festival screening in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and online. Valerie talks to Jim about "The Bubble" and life inside it.