Marjorie Prime is written and directed by Michael Almereyda, based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play of the same title by Jordan Harrison. Set in the not-too-distant future, the movie leverages AI technology to explore the nature of life, death, family and memory. Marjorie has been a widow for fifteen years. To help her cope with her failing mental and physical health, the family has acquired a “prime,” a computerized holographic version of Walter, her late husband. As the prime learns how to be Walter, secrets are uncovered and a dark family history is remembered and rewritten.  Essential questions surface: What is reality? What is memory? If we are at peace when the two don't align, isn't that alright?

Learning Objectives

As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:

• Describe and delineate the depth of the grief process resulting from the loss of a dearly loved one, helping clinicians to understand the psychological aspects of bereavement and its treatment

• Discuss the nature of long-term memory and its vicissitudes, how our memories shape our recall of past experiences, and of people we love

Joshua Richmond, MPW, is a vested member of the Writers Guild of America West and has written for film and television for over 20 years, writing scripts for Ron Howard, Universal, and Disney, and has created TV shows for Fox and Disney. Currently he teaches screenwriting and sitcom writing at Cal State Fullerton and is a psychoanalytic studies candidate at the New Center for Psychoanalysis.

Pranav Shah, MD, is a psychiatrist and a psychoanalytic psychotherapist who is passionate about movies and their use in illustrating the fundamental principles of psychoanalysis. He has co-authored a psychoanalytic study of the films of the renowned Indian auteur, Satyajit Ray.

Pricing & CE Credits 

• $20 with 2.5 CE Credits
• $10 without CE Credit