https://www.filmplatform.net/product/forgetting-dad
One week after a seemingly harmless car accident, Richard Minnich wakes up with total amnesia. He no longer recognises his wife and children and has a great deal of difficulty with the simplest daily tasks.
Sixteen years later, filmmaker Rick Minnich – the oldest son from Richard’s first marriage – returns to California with a camera in search of answers to why his father’s memory still hasn’t returned. Was Richard really struck by a horrible affliction, or was he perhaps trying to escape from a life he could no longer lead?
RICK MINNICH & MATT SWEETWOOD
Rick Minnich – Writer / Director
Rick Minnich was born in Pomona, California in 1968 and grew up in Kansas, Arizona and California. After graduating with a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University in 1990, he moved to Berlin, where he studied directing at the Film and Television Academy “Konrad Wolf.” His graduation film HEAVEN ON EARTH won the 2001 Babelsberg Media Prize for best documentary graduation film in Germany, and in 2002 it took the FIPA d’Or in Biarritz and numerous other prizes in the United States and Europe. It also screened at IDFA in 2001. Rick Minnich’s films have been shown throughout Europe by such TV broadcasters as ARTE, WDR, ORF, etc. FORGETTING DAD is his third feature-length documentary. It follows HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM (2005, released in the US by First Run Features and in Germany by Epix Media AG) and GOOD GUYS & BAD GUYS (1997).
Matt Sweetwood – Co-writer / Co-director / Editor
Born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1971. He currently lives in Potsdam, Germany. Sweetwood studied film at the California State University San Diego. He has broad experience as a script writer and director in both the United States and Germany. His scripts include THE JEWISH SANTA CLAUS (Edgar Reitz Filmproduktion, Germany) and THE STROKE (Flying Moon Filmproduktion, Germany). He wrote the script and directed the documentaries THE STORY OF LIBERTY and LIBERTY AT WAR (2004). He also edited the documentaries DESERT DREAMERS (2005) and HOMEMADE HILLBILLY JAM (2005, which he also co-wrote).
