Among the 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s lineup of feature films was “Walk With Me,” a film covering the lived experience of people with neurodegenerative diseases as well as their loved ones who take on the role of caretakers. In this deeply personal work, Director Heidi Levitt documents the trajectory of her relationship with her husband, Charlie Hess, following his diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

The documentary consists of candid footage of Levitt and her family over the span of two years, along with more artistic, intentional shots of nature. Levitt hired a videographer to capture every aspect of their daily lives to show how even the most mundane tasks become much more difficult for people with Alzheimer’s disease. In the film, Levitt immediately pushes herself to do everything she can to alleviate her husband’s suffering, including spending countless hours researching the disease and seeking out renowned medical professionals. Despite her good intentions, this approach creates tension within her family, as showcased in scenes of heated arguments at the dinner table. The main source of disagreement throughout the film is the debate on whether it is worth the time and energy to try out different treatments, knowing that there is ultimately nothing Levitt can do to cure her husband. 

These intense and unfiltered scenes depicting the strain in their family’s relationship are punctuated by montages of the idyllic landscapes of Vermont. With these shots, Levitt transmits the healing power that nature has had for her family in the form of hikes through the forest and swims in the lake next to their house. While Alzheimer’s disease brings hardships upon Levitt’s family, it also makes the time they spend together even more precious. 

Notably, the documentary includes commentary from neurologist and UC Santa Barbara professor Kenneth Kosik. Footage from Levitt and Hess’ guest lecture for Kosik’s interdisciplinary course at UCSB is included. Here, Hess shares his experience living with Alzheimer’s disease as well as his artwork. During this scene, we see Kosik introduce the idea of “psychocartography” to convey the complicated interactions that occur in the brain. He relates the brain to a map with an immense network of neurons that act as roads for communication. 

According to Kosik, when someone has Alzheimer’s, routes of the psyches get closed off, which makes navigating certain activities incredibly difficult. Hess, who used to work as a creative director for a prestigious magazine, now struggles with producing more than a simple drawing. The aggressive and messy scribbles that Hess shares with the students starkly contrast the sophisticated magazine covers he used to design with ease. 

We also see Levitt working closely with Helena Chang Chui, a neurologist at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, to find answers about her husband’s condition. Chui explains the results of Hess’ MRI scan, pointing out dark spots in the image that indicate tangles and plaques in the brain. As Chui explains, “tangles” are irregular accumulations of the protein tau, and this phenomenon is what causes the observable impairments in the abilities of Alzheimer’s patients to perform certain activities. These differ from plaques, which are build ups of amyloid beta protein that inhibit neuron communication, contributing to memory loss and cognitive decline. 

Although the presence of either of these abnormalities may cause issues, both Kosik and Chui express that tau tangles are a more significant contributor to the physiological dysfunctions associated with this disease. Incredible advancements are being made in the biomedical field using the knowledge on what is happening on a molecular level in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, and scientists hope that this knowledge can serve as a path towards developing a cure. One promising approach within recent research is focusing on how tau expression can be regulated to modulate the development of tangles in the brain. 

As “Walk with Me” reminds us, dealing with a life-altering disease requires not only medical treatments but an ample support system and an outlet for channeling pain. Toward the end of the film, Levitt verbalizes how making this documentary has served as a form of therapy for her, giving her a project that she has full control over during a time when her life is marked by so much uncertainty. Similarly, viewers witness how Hess’ emotional well-being improves once he moves back to the family’s home in a tranquil suburb of Vermont. He is even able to get back into creating art, using his experience with Alzheimer’s as the subject matter of his new work. Chui herself tells the family that being in the environment where Hess feels most comfortable is most likely more effective than any treatment she could prescribe to him. 

Ultimately, “Walk with Me” is a story of reconnecting with our environment and the people within it by finding new paths to walk along once the previously established ones are blocked off.