Moonlight Sonata

Irene Brodsky’s son Jonas began losing his hearing as a baby and underwent cochlear-implant surgery as a toddler. Now 11 years old, Jonas has adjusted to a world with sound and is learning to play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. As Jonas delves deeper into Beethoven’s sonata, the story becomes an intergenerational, inter-era tale of deafness. As Jonas navigates deafness and his grandfather Paul with dementia, Beethoven’s process of writing “Moonlight Sonata” and unearthing creativity from loss serves as a poetic analogue. Like Beethoven, grandfather and grandson must tune into the voice inside of themselves to survive a world that was not built for them.

Moonlight Sonata is a story about loss and, more importantly, what we discover when we push beyond it.

Post-film panel with Dr. Micheal Galindo, specialist in Internal medicine and Palliative Care with Intermountain Health Group, Ronnie Daniel, Executive Director of the Utah Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Sheryl Bagshaw, Dementia Practitioner/Educator and Stephanie Mathis, Executive Director of Sego Lily Center for the Abused Deaf (SLCAD) and mental health therapist.

The film will be screened with open captions and ASL interpretation will be provided for the panel discussion.

Speaker Bios

Sheryl Bagshaw, MBA, SSW, CVW. Sheryl is a Geriatric Social Worker and Dementia Specialist with 20+ years of experience in geriatric care. She has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and her undergraduate work is in Sociology, Family and Human Development, and a Gerontology Certification from Utah State University where she started the Student Gerontology Association. The majority of Sheryl’s career has been working with individuals with dementia and their families.

Ronnie Daniel (panel moderator) is the Executive Director of the Utah Chapter to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Dr. Micheal Galindo graduated from Tulane in 2002. He specializes in Internal medicine and Palliative Care with Intermountain Health Group and serves on the Utah Chapter Board of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Stephanie Mathis is the executive director and mental health therapist of Sego Lily Center for the Abused Deaf (SLCAD) in Salt Lake City. She has worked for SLCAD for 11 1/2 years and enjoys working with people who are passionate about keeping the Deaf Community safe.   She graduated from Gallaudet University with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling with an Associate Clinical Mental Health Counseling license and is a Certified Deaf Interpreter and a court approved interpreter in the state of Utah.

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