Independent Lens

Season 6

Episode 16: Sunset Story

“Sunset Story” profiles two residents of L.A.'s Sunset Hall, a “retirement home for free-thinking elders.” Irja Lloyd, 81, remains an activist, and Lucille Alpert, 95, is an inveterate news junkie, and the two are fast friends. The hour wryly juxtaposes trips to demonstrations with trips to the doctor, and the two also talk about sex. But in the end it's a story of sunsets. “I've lived a long life,” Alpert says matter-of-factly after receiving a cancer diagnosis, “and it's time to go.”