If you or someone you love has Lewy body dementia, you already know how hard it is to explain your situation to people who have not been through it. The confusion at diagnosis, the symptoms that shift from hour to hour, the isolation that builds quietly while you try to keep everything together.

A new film called Facing the Wind puts all of that on screen. It is coming to PBS stations nationwide in the U.S. in June 2026, and it is one of the most honest portrayals of life with LBD that has reached a general audience.

What Is Facing the Wind?

Facing the Wind is a one-hour film directed by Deirdre Fishel, whose previous films have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca. At its heart, it is a love story about people living with Lewy body dementia, the spouses who care for them, and the community where they find support. The film follows people whose lives have been shaped by the disease: spouses living with LBD, and the women who care for them.

Linda Szypula is a New Jersey science teacher whose husband Jim, a former rock musician turned electrician, was diagnosed with LBD in his early 60s. When Linda goes looking for answers, she finds Curry Whisenhunt, a Texas truck driver who also has LBD. Curry blogs about his experience with the disease and runs three weekly LBD support groups. Together, Linda and Curry create a podcast, and an online support community begins to grow around them.

On the other side of the country, Carla Preyer closed down her salon to work from home so she can care for her husband Patrick, a former operating room nurse whose symptoms began in 2012 and eventually forced him out of his career. The two married in 2001, ten months after meeting on a blind date. She relies on the same online community to get through her days.

As the disease progresses for both Jim and Patrick, Linda plans a road trip with Jim to visit national parks and meet members of the support group in person. The film follows the families through the losses and through the connections that help them carry on.

The film was produced with support from Mary Lou Falcone, Renee Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Suzie and Bruce Kovner, and David Hyde Pierce. It had its world premiere at the Doc NYC Film Festival in November 2024 and screened at New York’s Lincoln Center the same month.

Why This Film Matters

Lewy body dementia affects more than 1.4 million Americans. It is the second most common form of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, and it is consistently misdiagnosed. Many families spend years searching for an explanation before anyone says the words “Lewy body dementia.”

Even after diagnosis, most families feel alone. LBD does not have the same public awareness as Alzheimer’s disease. Support resources are harder to find. Friends and extended family often disappear, not out of cruelty but because they do not know what they are looking at or how to help.

Facing the Wind brings this experience to a national audience. When the film airs on PBS, it will reach millions of households. Some of those viewers will recognize what their family has been going through. Some will see their own lives in Linda’s and Carla’s stories. Others will learn about LBD for the first time and understand why it deserves more attention.

What the Film Shows

The film shows the cognitive fluctuations associated with LBD that make every day unpredictable, what it means to watch someone you love change, and what caregivers give up to provide that care.

It shows Jim still able to play guitar even as the disease takes more from him each day. It shows Curry blogging about his experience, running weekly support groups, and co-hosting a podcast with Linda to help others find the information and community he wished he had found sooner. It shows Linda scared she will not be there when Jim really needs her, and Carla drawing on her faith and her friendships to get through days that would otherwise be unbearable.

And it shows what the support community does for all of them. The film’s own description calls it a love story, and that is accurate, not just about the marriages at its center but about what people who are going through the same hard thing can become to each other.

When and Where to Watch

Facing the Wind begins airing on PBS stations nationwide in June 2026. Check your local PBS station’s schedule for the date and time in your area by going to this link (alphabetized by state) and/or calling the station:   https://www.aptonline.org/pages/viewers/Index-Stations+Near+You 

If you would like to learn more about the film before the broadcast, visit facingthewindfilm.com.

For years, the families who call our helpline have described similar struggles. Some found us early, others after months of searching for answers. Whatever brought them to us, what they needed was someone who actually understands this disease.

We run the only live helpline in the United States dedicated to Lewy body dementia, available every day from 8am to 8pm Eastern time. We can connect you with support groups, specialists in your area, and resources specific to LBD. If you have questions after watching the film, or before it, call us at 516-218-2026 or 833-LBD-LINE. You can also reach us at norma@lbdny.org.