Love & Stuff
Grieving her beloved mother and living amidst 63 boxes of dead parents’ stuff, one transformative “YES” turns filmmaker Judith Helfand into a 50-year-old new mother.
2020 | Running Time: 1 hour 20 minutes | Rating: Unrated
Seven months after helping her terminally ill mother have a “good death” in home-hospice, filmmaker Judith Helfand becomes a “new old” single mother at 50. Overnight, she’s pushed to deal with her “stuff”: 63 does of her parent’s heirlooms overwhelming her office-turned-future-baby’s room, the weight of her mother had begged her to lose, and the reality of being a half century older than her daughter. Told in the first person, in deep consultation with the past — as in 25 year of family footage — LOVE & STUFF explores the transformative power of parenting, our complex and very emotional attachment to “stuff,” and what it is we really need to leave our children. Director, Writer, Producer: Judith Helfand; Producer: Hilla Medalia
Judith Helfand, Director, Writer, Producer
Judith Helfand is best known for her ability to take the dark worlds of chemical exposure, heedless corporate behavior and environmental injustice and make them personal, highly-charged and entertaining. Three of her films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, with national broadcasts on PBS (POV), HBO and The Sundance Channel. In addition to THE UPRISING OF ’34 (co-directed with George Stoney), her films include the Sundance award- winning and 2X Emmy nominated film BLUE VINYL (co-directed with Daniel B. Gold and co-produced with Julie Parker Benello) and its Peabody Award-winning nominated prequel A HEALTHY BABY GIRL, as well as EVERYTHING’S COOL, also co-directed with Gold.
Hilla Medalia, Producer
Peabody Award–winning filmmaker Hilla Medalia has received three Emmy nominations. Her projects have garnered critical acclaim and screened internationally in theaters and on television, including on HBO, MTV, BBC, and ARTE. Her range of titles include “To Die in Jerusalem”(2007, HBO), “After the Storm”(2009, MTV), “Numbered” (2012, ARTE), “Dancing in Jaffa” (2013, Tribeca, IFC Sundance selects), “Web Junkie” (2013, Sundance), and “The Go Go Boys” (2014, Cannes). Her latest film, “Censored Voices” (2015), has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlinale and was released theatrically last fall. She also holds a Master of Arts from Southern Illinois University.
“…As a meditation on bereavement, parenting and the burden and blessing of inheritances, LOVE & STUFF is about as universally accessible as it gets.”
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER