‘The A-Word: The Future of Aging’ Trailer – Greg Kohs’ Biotech Documentary Premiere at Tribeca Fest

The A-Word: The Future of Aging, directed by Greg Kohs, follows a scientist trying to develop the world’s first FDA-approved drug to delay aging in dogs and an 87-year-old widower and his bond with a rescue dog.

This documentary, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, reveals the human stakes behind the quest to hack biology and extend the lives of loved ones, tracking the parallel journeys of Celine Halioua and her biotech startup, Loyal, and George Betke and his dog, Monica.

Modern medicine has long been a game of “Whac-A-Mole,” treating individual diseases like dementia, cancer, and heart failure while ignoring the root cause-the biological process of aging itself. The A-Word: The Future of Aging is a feature-length documentary that follows the visionaries determined to break this cycle and redefine what it means to grow old.  

The film follows two parallel journeys. In San Francisco, Celine Halioua, the passionate CEO of biotech startup Loyal, is attempting to do what has never been done: achieve FDA approval for a drug that extends healthy lifespan. Choosing dogs as her first patients, Celine bets her company and her career on the belief that aging is not an inevitable decline, but a “tunable” system that can be optimized.

Meanwhile, three thousand miles away in the quiet winters of Maine, 87-year-old George Betke lives the reality Celine is trying to change. In the wake of his wife’s passing, George finds a new sense of purpose in his devotion to Monica, a senior rescue dog. Their story provides the human heartbeat to the film, questioning whether the true goal of longevity science is to add years to life, or life to years. 

Interweaving this emotional journey with interviews from world-leading longevity scientists and bioethicists, The A-Word: The Future of Aging blends provocative scientific insights with a raw portrait of love and loss. The film looks beyond the technical ‘how’ of biological engineering to the essential ‘why’ of our existence. 

“I have always been drawn to stories where the extraordinary shows up in the ordinary. The A-Word is about adding healthy years to life, and about the humans and dogs who remind us to add life to the years. George and Monica convinced me, again, that every story worth telling has those same old lines,” says Kohs.

Critics have responded positively to the film overall, but still reserve some criticisms. A reviewer from Next Best Picture said the film feels padded at times with a few too many experts and explanations of the scientific process, but praised Betke and his dog Monica as “the beating heart and soul of ‘The A-Word.’” Another review, from FILMHOUNDS, noted that the film is perfectly balanced between experimental research and lived perspective but criticizes the “obvious AI ” usage throughout, particularly in b-roll and research visualization animations.

Watch the official trailer for A-Word: The Future of Aging above.