“Love, Rendered,” a new documentary short, explores memory loss and the power of storytelling — and it showcases how technology can help rekindle memories that have begun to fade. The film follows Burt and Ethelle Shatz, a couple married for over 70 years, as they navigate Burt’s cognitive decline. Among his fading memories is one of their most precious: the day they met at a student co-op in Cleveland. Because it wasn’t photographed or filmed, the day existed only in their minds.

When I stepped in as the film’s technical lead, I knew the project would be as emotionally demanding as it was technically complex. Memory loss is personal to me. My grandfather suffered a stroke and memory loss before he passed. The last time I visited him, I was in my thirties. He was convinced I was still in college and was so happy I was graduating. That bittersweet memory never left me.

The experience made me want to see if this technology could help me connect more deeply with my family through the same medium. When this project began, I asked my father for old family photos. I tested our image restoration on photographs from when my parents met and used our video models to animate them. Watching my parents move as twenty-somethings really drove home how these tools could help keep what matters most from slipping away.