Season 10

Live Long

Noelle P. Wilson

Magical realism marries true life when a grieving woman, desperate to connect with her widowed father, is unknowingly guided by the spirit of her mother to boldly go where she has never gone before.

Live Action

Aging Trauma

Intergenerational

Bittersweet

Why we chose this film.

Through an original style that blends realistic and imaginary elements, “Live Long” highlights the power of shared cultural references, like TV series and films, to bring people together, even in the most challenging circumstances. We appreciate that by being curious about her grieving father’s Star Trek fandom, the protagonist finds a way to reconnect with him.

Filmmaker

Inspiration

Live Long was inspired by my lifelong recognition that no two people will ever grieve the same, even when they are grieving the same thing. It explores what it might look like if a person was so consumed with sadness they literally sank into the furniture. And it implores the romantic notion that the spirits of those who left us behind can somehow keep us together.

A love letter to my family, the idea for the film first came to me at the start of the pandemic. During that intense time of social isolation and loneliness, I would often take long walks in my Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills. It was there that I first noticed a number of houses that were overgrown with ivy and I couldn’t help but imagine: What if that ivy is the spirit of someone who once lived in that house, returning to wrap those left behind in a sort of a giant hug?

Naturally, I wished my own mom, who died when I was a teenager, would somehow return and wrap me in this sort of optimistic embrace.

Unfolding within the landscape of a family home that’s missing the heart of the family, it’s my hope that this film will encourage audiences to discover their own ways of communicating and finding meaningful connections after an immense loss.