Dr. Doc

Retired radiologist turns to documentary
filmmaking to help viewers "get the picture."

Filmmaker Dr. Robert Ruskin with psychiatrist Dr. Ronald Trunsky,

the subject of Footprints on the Sands of Time

making up the movie, and he's in
it quite a bit — talking. Any time
he talks about something, I have
sychiatrist Ronald
somebody else come in to add to
Trunsky soon will gain
-what he's said!."
new insight into how he
Scrapbooks that. Trunsky
appears in the eyes of a longtime
always takes with him were an
friend, retired radiologist Robert
outstanding motivation for the
Ruskin. -
film. As the psychiatrist meets
So will some 200 others.
with patients, he shows them pic-
Ruskin, who has known
tures and memorabilia from his
Trunsky since they met as class-
own life as comparisons to what
mates at Detroit's Central High
each is experiencing.
School, took up filmmaking as
"For every portion of the
a hobby about 10 years ago and
film — and I pretty much do it
recently decided that his friend's
chronologically starting with his
uncommon ways would make an
childhood and going through
interesting project.
what interests him now — I have
him pulling out pictures and
The cinematic result,
Footprints on the Sands of
•speaking about them; explains
Time, will be shown 9:30 a.m.
Ruskin, of Bloomfield Hills. "We
have about 10 sections in the
Saturday, Nov. 25, at the Maple
film, and every one starts with
Art Theatre in Bloomfield
Township with an open invitation a picture he pulls out from his
memorabilia!'
to the free screening.
"I don't know that there's
Although Trunsky appears in
anyone as unique as Ron:' says •
the film, he will not see any of it
Ruskin, 75, who did all the film-
until the formal showing.
ing and editing on his own.
*
"Bob and I share the same val-
"There's a mixture of things
. ues, and he has . been an extreme-

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

p

ly loyal friend:' says Trunsky,
a resident of West Bloomfield
whose current work time consists
of seeing patients in his office,
making house calls for those too
infirm to reach him and teaching
at Wayne State University. "I trea-
sure relationships with people,
and I consider a project like this
an act of love."
The computer helped transi-
tion Ruskin from X-ray images .
to moving pictures more than
10 years ago. While still a radi-
ologist, he used the computer
to develop teaching programs,
including one with videos. When
a co-worker was about to be
married, he made a video of her
personal stills.
"After I retired in 1995,1 took
a short filmmaking course at
Cranbrook and made a video
about my father;' Ruskin says. "I
took pictures from his life and
had a voiceover. That led me to
get more schooling, and I went to
Wayne State University and the
University of Michigan.
"I thought that documentary
filmmaking was where I wanted
to go. There are ideas that are
important to show, and I think
documentaries offer the best way
to do that!"
Ruskin's earlier films have
included Shaky Jake Woods
— On the Move, which is
about a homeless man and has

been premiered at the Cinema
Slam festival in Ann Arbor, and
Friends for Life, which is about
a group of women who have been
close since childhood and go to
lunch every Monday.
His only. fictional work, Th e
Luckiest, is about a young
woman's relationships after she
discovers a lump in her breast. _
."The film about Dr. Trunsky is
a lot longer than my other films:'
says Ruskin, who works with a
digital video camera, different
kinds of sound equipment and
computer editing programs. "It
is one hour and 40 minutes long.
The other films are 15 or 20 min-
utes long!' .
Ruskin includes comments by
Trunsky's family members, col-
leagues, students and patients,
many suggested by the subject
of the film. The dominant Jewish
connection, the filmmaker
explains, emerges with the psy-
chiatrist's work at Sinai Hospital.
"When Ron pulls out a picture
of the doctor that led him to go to
Sinai, I have a number of people
from the hospital speak about
him:" Ruskin says.
The title of the film is taken
from a Longfellow poem about
leaving a positive legacy. The
choice of venues, picked by
Ruskin as host, has to do with
the greater impact film can have
When seen on a large screen.

"What's most important to me
is to get emotion on the screen:'
says Ruskin, a member of Temple
Israel and volunteer for the annu-
al Lenore Marwil Jewish Film
Festival at the Jewish Community
Center. "When I go to a film that
really impresses me, it has some-
thing that moves me.
"I have great emotional ties to
Ron so this film is an important
work for me. Obviously, a film-
maker brings his own prejudices
to a film, but there weren't very
many negative things that came
up. I recognize that there might
be omissions?'
After the screening of
Footprints on the Sands of
Time, Ruskin will not take on
new film projects in the short
term. He plans on editing his ear-
lier movies.
"I think my skills have
improved:' he says. "My goal is
to make some impact on viewers
— whether teaching them some-
thing or moving them somehow.
I want to get messages across
through the use of film!' E •

Footprints on the Sands of
Time will be the subject of
a free screening 9:30 a.m.
Saturday, Nov. 25, at the
Maple Art Theatre, 4135
W. Maple, in Bloomfield
Township. (248) 851-9734.

•

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November 23 • 2006

49