Luke Jaden captures recovery
The ArtClass director documents his wife’s grandfather, AA sponsor Ken Kurkowski, in an unvarnished portrait of routine, ritual and recovery.
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Credits
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- Production Company Octagon Haus
- Director Luke Jaden
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Credits
View on- Production Company Octagon Haus
- Director Luke Jaden
- Editing Whitehouse Post/New York
- Producer Diane Michelle
- DP Jackson Clark
- Editor Lizzy Graham
- Colorist Dan Swierenga
- Sound Mixer Justin Green
- Sound Designer Mike Regan
Explore full credits, grab hi-res stills and more on shots Vault
Credits
powered by- Production Company Octagon Haus
- Director Luke Jaden
- Editing Whitehouse Post/New York
- Producer Diane Michelle
- DP Jackson Clark
- Editor Lizzy Graham
- Colorist Dan Swierenga
- Sound Mixer Justin Green
- Sound Designer Mike Regan
If Hollywood blockbusters or career coaches are to be believed, success is measured by bad guys slain, impossible obstacles overcome and job-ladders ascended.
In Luke Jaden’s new documentary, a quieter tale of achievement is told.
Captured in the suburbs of Detroit, One Day at a Time follows 87-year-old AA sponsor Ken Kurkowski as he reflects on a lifetime shaped by addiction, recovery and the daily rituals that keep him grounded.
Granted intimate access to Kurkowski’s world - the subject is the grandfather of producer Diane Michelle, Jaden’s wife - the film takes its time, revealing the quiet struggles and lingering regret that sit behind his ongoing victories; leaving us with a profile of someone whose progress is measured not in grand gestures, but by simply choosing to begin again.
“What compelled me to make One Day at a Time wasn’t spectacle; it was the quiet gravity of everyday life," explains Jaden. "We filmed in Ken’s smoke-stained garage outside Detroit, a sanctuary that holds his rituals - rolling his own cigarettes, watching old Westerns, cleaning his golf clubs, drilling sobriety tokens for newcomers at AA.
"Ken rarely leaves except for meetings, mass, or family, shaping his world around sobriety one day at a time. Even after losing part of a lung, he still smokes; he’s stubborn, imperfect, deeply human.
"His story isn’t a summit, it’s a series of small, steady choices made when no one is watching. I wanted to strip everything back and honour that truth: the dignity in routine, the grace in persistence, and the courage it takes to simply wake up and begin again.”
