WHAT’S NEXT? chronicles one year in the life of Dr. Howard Tucker, the world’s oldest practicing doctor, who at 100-years-old must grapple with aging for the first time. The documentary will have its world premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 7th, 2024.

World premiere tickets can be found here: https://www.clevelandfilm.org/films/whats-next

At 100-years-old, Dr. Howard Tucker has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's oldest practicing doctor. Following a more than seven-decade career, capped off by a stint teaching neurology to medical residents at Cleveland's St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, Dr. Tucker begins to slow down and grapple with aging for the first time. Told through the eyes of his grandson, the film follows their journey through a changing medical landscape as their relationship deepens and dynamics shift.

Key Creative Team

  • Taylor Taglianetti

    DIRECTOR / PRODUCER

    Taylor Taglianetti is the Founder and President of the National Organization of Italian Americans in Film & Television (NOIAFT). She is also a producer, director, and celebrity interviewer.

    Under her new production company Half House Productions, Taylor most recently produced the short documentary, Heirloom, which is currently on its festival run and world premiered at the Los Angeles-Italia Film Festival in March 2022. The film, which stars Isabella Rossellini, received a grant from the Russo Brothers (Avengers: End Game, Captain America: Civil War). The film has been an Official Selection in dozens of film festivals worldwide including Ischia Film Festival, Arizona International Film Festival and Italian Contemporary Film Festival.

    Taylor’s debut short documentary, Generation Hollow, was produced by the leading film non-profit Reel Works and won Juror’s Choice for Outstanding Filmmaking at the 2014 Women of African Descent Film Festival. In 2018, she helped cast Shiva Baby (SXSW Film Festival).

    A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Taylor has worked at Paradigm Talent Agency, NBCUniversal, Silver Pictures and Maven Pictures.

  • Austin Tucker

    PRODUCER

    Austin Tucker currently works in Business Development & Operations at Paramount. Additionally, he is the lead singer and keyboardist for the Brooklyn-based rock band, Sweet Sienna, signed to Cleopatra Records.

    As a musician, Austin has supported, performed, and recorded with numerous national acts such as George Lynch, Sebastian Bach, Warrant, Jack Russell, and others. He recently supported Ace Frehley at his New Haven performance.

    A graduate of NYU Stern School of Business, Austin is the Executive Producer of Heirloom (2022) starring Isabella Rossellini and volunteers his time as Director of Business Development at the National Organization of Italian Americans in Film & Television (NOIAFT). He has also worked on many short film projects and previously worked at Universal Music Group, NBCUniversal, Warner Music Group, and AEG Presents.

  • Stephanie Walter

    PRODUCER

    Stephanie Walter is an award-winning writer, producer, and director whose credits include television, radio and theater. Stephanie’s television credits include documentaries for Lifetime, MSNBC, CBS, and Viacom, as well as her own independent work. Stephanie has created original programming for a variety of broadcasters, and spent a chunk of her career documenting roots music around the U.S.

    After studying writing in New York and the U.K., Stephanie moved to Manhattan and opened her own theatre company, The Black Market. There she developed new voices from around the country and presented readings, and staged productions out of an old garage in the LES.

    Stephanie holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University, where she created a series of lectures that examined Race and Justice, working with students using Socratic methodologies. She is currently the Executive Producer and Director of the Emmy Award-winning production company, The Studios at Reel Works, training students to enter the film and television workforce.

  • Gaylen Ross

    EDITOR

    GAYLEN ROSS has directed, produced, written and edited award-winning documentary films for over 25 years, premiering in national and international film festivals, premiering on PBS as part of the prestigious POV series, A&E Television, and The Learning Channel, and for England's BBC's "Storyville," and Channel4; and shown in Israel, Italy, Australia, The Netherlands, Japan, and Canada.

    Her films have also been official selections of the Berlin Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival, Haifa Film Festival (Israel), Cinema du Reel at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Nyon Documentary Festival (Switzerland), Encontros Inernacionais (Portugal) the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York, Williamstown Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival, and Jewish Film Festivals in New York, Vienna, San Francisco, Boston, London, Berlin and Brazil.

    In front of the camera, as an actress, Gaylen Ross had a very brief but distinguished career as the star of two George Romero classics, Dawn of the Dead and Creepshow.

  • Sabine Krayenbühl

    CONSULTING EDITOR

    Sabine Krayenbühl is an award-winning filmmaker with over twenty theatrical documentaries and narrative features to her credit. She co-directed and edited Letters from Baghdad about Gertrude Bell, sometimes referred to as the female "Lawrence of Arabia."

    Her editing work includes Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nominated My Architect for which she received an American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Award nomination and the Emmy-winning The Hunt for Planet B. Additional credits include Mad Hot Ballroom, one of the top twenty highest grossing documentaries, The Bridge produced by IFC, Picasso and Braque go to the Movies, produced by Martin Scorsese, Virgin Tales, Ahead of Time, Jennifer Fox’s Emmy nominated My Reincarnation, Salinger on which she consulted and most recently HBO’s The Price of Everything.

    Krayenbühl has a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a member of NYWIFT and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

  • Caleb Crossen

    DIRECTOR OF CINEMATOGRAPHY

    Caleb Crossen is a cinematographer based in Cleveland, Ohio. His work includes commercials for national brands like Reebok, The Cleveland Cavaliers, Flexjet, Progressive, and Vitamix; documentaries, including features Burn The Ships and A More Civil War; and music videos for a variety of artists including Machine Gun Kelly and Cloud Nothings.