Live Long

Director Statement

By far the most challenging project I’ve made to date, Live Long is rooted in my pursuit to build stories around characters who defy society’s unrealistic standards.

A love letter to my late mother, and inspired by my dad and brother – lifelong Star Trek fans – it’s my hope that this short film will encourage audiences to find their own ways of connecting and communicating after an immense loss.

The idea first came to me during pandemic. I was spending a lot of time walking in a neighborhood near my apartment in Forest Hills known as the Gardens. It was there that I first noticed a number of house that had ivy growing up the sides and I had a thought… what if the ivy is the spirit of someone who used to live in that house… returning to give those who still reside inside a giant hug?

Everyone who read the script said to me “you have to make this!”

So okay…
The spirit of a dead mom returns as moving ivy…
Dad is turning into the furniture….
I just finished grad school, I’m broke and my unions are on strike.
How on earth am I going to make this????
::Enter Freak Out Mode::

Luckily, I spent a year talking to anyone who would listen and eventually I put together a team of collaborators, including incredible puppeteers from the world of Jim Henson, SFX and VFX artists, production and costume designers – not to mention an incredible cast including a Tony Winner (pinch me please!) – who would help bring my unique vision to life.

A vision that physicalizes the otherwise invisible emotions of grieving.

In truth, I was eighteen years old when my mom died and it was me who entered such a deep place of depression that I became part of the furniture for about six months.

In the two decades since emerging from my emotional coma, I’ve come to learn a lot about grieving – my biggest takeaways being that no two people grief the same and there is hope for people to find connection in grief. Which is what I hope this film represents.

Thank you.