When filmmaker Trish Neufeld discovers her mother’s mind is unravelling, she’s compelled to care for her – all while attempting to solve a decades-old family mystery. Sharp and heartbreaking, and underscored by darkly comedic animated scenes, it is a dementia story like no other.

DANCING WITH MOM captures the extraordinary eight-year journey of filmmaker Trish Neufeld and her mother Pat, as they navigate the unravelling of Pat’s mind – just as a complex family mystery comes to light. Childhood drawings inspire a darkly comedic animated version of their three-decade journey, bringing levity and humour to the sometimes-heartbreaking story of Pat’s rare form of dementia.  The tale is unconventional – just like the family that Pat created for her daughter as a single mom in the 70s.  

Trish grows up acutely aware that although she has three father figures in her life – including a homeless alcoholic who lives in the basement – but it’s her mother who is fully in control of her.

In her early 30s, Trish is attempting to move into the next passage of her life, when her intense and controlling mom suddenly undergoes shocking personality changes.  She stops her habitual attempts to control Trish and starts dancing spontaneously in public – all the time.   After Pat is diagnosed, Trish takes her on a bucket list of adventures while she still can, managing Pat’s bizarre preoccupation with sex, her childlike glee, and Trish’s own discomfort with it all.   When life with mom is verging on impossible, suddenly Trish meets someone.  But can her new boyfriend Kyle handle the chaos of Trish’s life?