Partnership brings Age of Champions documentary to ICAA’s Changing the Way We Age® Campaign

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Film to be provided free of charge to volunteers across the United States and Canada

ORLANDO--An inspiring documentary film about a group of older competitive athletes-- a 100-year-old tennis champion, 86-year-old pole vaulter, octogenarian swimmers, and team of basketball grandmothers--will be provided free of charge to participants in the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA)’s Champions program, an integral part of ICAA’s Changing the Way We Age®Campaign (www.changingthewayweage.com). Launched in May 2011, the campaign is working on several fronts to transform society’s perceptions of aging and present more realistic, positive views of what it means to be an older adult in North America today.

“We are excited to partner with the Documentary Foundation to bring this vibrant educational video to ICAA Champions as a tool they can use to start conversations about positive, active aging,” said ICAA CEO Colin Milner, who announced the partnership at ICAA’s 10th annual conference here. “The ICAA Champions program enlists volunteers who are committed to serving as role models and educating their peers, as well as young people, about the realities of aging. Older adults today are active, engaged, contributing to society and to each other’s health and well being. The individuals profiled in this new documentary exemplify those qualities.”

ICAA will send a DVD of Age of Champions (www.ageofchampions.org) to every registered ICAA champion. “Our champions can show the DVD at a screening in their communities to start conversations around changing perceptions of aging,” Milner said. The Documentary Foundation (www.documentaryfoundation.org), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Northern California, will also be screening the film in selected sites across North America in 2012.

“Age of Champions shares an important story of life that should be celebrated at any age,” says producer Keith Chat, managing director of the Documentary Foundation. “We are honored to
partner with ICAA as we share the film with communities across the country.”

About the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA)
The International Council on Active Aging® is the professional association that leads, connects and defines the active-aging industry. ICAA supports professionals who develop wellness facilities, programs and services for adults over 50. The association is focused on active aging—an approach to aging that helps older adults live as fully as possible within all dimensions of wellness (i.e., physical, social, environmental, vocational, intellectual, emotional and spiritual)—and provides its members with education, information, resources and tools.

As an active-aging educator and advocate, ICAA has advised numerous organizations and governmental bodies, including the US Administration on Aging, the National Institute on Aging (one of the US National Institutes of Health), the US Department of Health and Human Services, Canada’s Special Senate Committee on Aging, European Commission, and the British Columbia ministries of Health, and Healthy Living and Sport.

ICAA launched the Changing the Way We Age® Campaign (http://www.changingthewayweage.com) as part of the organization’s efforts to change perceptions of aging and overturn ageist stereotypes.

For questions:

Contact: Colin Milner, CEO, ICAA
Toll-free: 1-866-335-9777 (North America)
Telephone: 604-734-4466; cell: 604-763-4595
colinmilner@icaa.cc

Contact: Marilynn Larkin
Communications Director, ICAA
212-315-3301
mlarkin@icaa.cc