Love & Stuff
Synopsis
Seven months after helping her terminally ill mother die in home-hospice, award winning filmmaker Judith Helfand becomes a “new old” single mother at 50. Overnight, she’s pushed to deal with her “stuff”: 63 boxes of her parents’ heirlooms overwhelming her office-turned-future-baby’s room, the weight 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 years 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.
Credits
Director(s)
Judith Helfand
Producer(s)
Judith Helfand, Hilla Medalia, Julie Parker Benello
Cinematography
Daniel Gold
Editor
Marina Katz, David Cohen
Original Music
Paul Brill
Original Language
English
Production Companies
Judith Helfand Productions, Medalia Productions, Secret Sauce Media
Co-Directed
David Cohen
Sound Designer
Benny Mouthon, CAS
Involved Funds
Artemis Rising Foundation, Impact Partners, Wavelength Productions
Festival Highlights
World Premiere - Hot Docs , Canada, Official Selection, 2020
US Premiere - Doc NYC, USA, MASTERS section, 2020
Hamptons Doc Film Festival, USA, Official Selection, 2020
Woods Hole Film Festival, USA, Official Selection, 2020
New York Jewish Film Festival, USA, 2021
Toronto Jewish Film Festival, USA, 2020
UK Jewish Film Festival, UK, 2020
Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Canada, 2020
Boston Jewish Film Festival, USA, 2020
Reviews
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""perfectly intertwined. Love and Stuff comes down to one word – motherhood"."
- SCREEN FISH
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""Helfand established a voice that is deeply personal, darkly funny and ultimately reflects the universal power of love and family""
- BROADWAYWORLD
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""insightful and sympathetic... Helfand does a very good job of making her story into something uplifting in an unexpected way"
"
- DISAPPOINTMENT MEDIA
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""hauntingly beautiful, at times one forgets her mother is dead""
- SET THE BAR
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""an incredible narrator I couldn’t help but feel like I was sitting on the couch next to Judith"
"
- SCREEN FISH
