Nansie: A Story of Love, Dementia, and the Power of Showing Up

June 30, 2025

A powerful new documentary called Nansie is set to premiere next month, telling the deeply personal story of Ann “Nansie” Miller, a resident at Southern Cross Care’s South Coogee home.

Created by her granddaughters Adelaide and Lucinda Miller, the film follows their journey teaching Nansie to swim for the first time - despite her living with dementia and never having learned before.

Like so many families, the sisters grew up spending a lot of time with their grandmother who would help look after them as children, including taking them to swimming lessons.

Now as strong young women with a deep love of the ocean, the roles are reversed following Nansie’s dementia diagnosis in 2018.

Adelaide and Lucinda embark on a journey of discovery that tests the limits of what is possible within the confines of the disease as well as themselves as carers.

Filmed over four years, Nansie blends raw phone footage with cinematic handheld shots to capture the emotional realities of dementia, family grief, and the joyful resilience of intergenerational love.

Through song, dance, and shared laughter, the documentary reminds us that life doesn’t stop with a diagnosis and highlights the power of presence and the importance of intergenerational relationships.

The filmmakers hope Nansie will inspire viewers to visit someone in care and have shared practical tools to help people show up meaningfully.

The film has been selected to air at the prestigious Rhodope International Film Festival in Smolyan, Bulgaria in July.

Nansie premieres at the Ritz Cinema in Randwick on Wednesday, 16 July at 7:00 PM, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. Watch the trailer and book your tickets at ritzcinemas.com.au.

Let’s celebrate this beautiful story and the incredible people - like Nansie and our care teams - who enable them to live life to the full.