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At 38, Lori Benson--an aspiring filmmaker living in downtown Manhattan--was relishing life and motherhood with her one-year-old daughter Talula. Then a single phone call changed her life forever: It was her doctor; calling after a routine check up; the diagnosis was breast cancer; and surgery was imperative.
Mixing verité footage with home videos and family photographs, this 34 minute film, is an intimate autobiographical portrait of Lori's battle with breast cancer. The film offers a glimpse of her life after she received the news - the complicated and often confusing medical choices, the doctors' visits, surgeries, chemotherapy and search for alternative therapies, as well as the support and encouragement she receives from loved ones, and tender moments shared with Talula.
Though the film tackles an emotional subject matter, it is not without lighthearted moments, as Lori displays an uncanny ability to find the humor in some difficult situations. In the midst of her first chemotherapy treatment, she reads the laundry list of side effects she may experience - "chest pain, confusion, difficulty breathing, drowsiness, mouth sores, nausea, vomiting" - and jokes that dealing with this information would have been a lot easier to take if she were at home with a 'big drink.'
Lori recalls that when her filmmaker husband first suggested they bring a camera to their first doctor's visit, her initial reaction was an emphatic "no!" But, "a day later," she said, "a friend showed up anyway and began filming me as I headed out to my first appointment. After the dust settled a bit, I noticed a bunch of DV tapes sitting in a box. It was the tapes from those beginning days. I started to watch them and was stunned at what I saw. I saw myself; me with breast cancer. I saw my friends gather around me in support and love, me breastfeeding Talula for the last time, me walking through the surgery doors. I knew in that moment, I had to make this film."
Living in Los Angeles and New York, Lori Benson has worked in feature and documentary film production for more than ten years. DEAR TALULA, her directorial debut, won the best short documentary award at the Ashland Independent Film Festival and also screened at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and the 2006 Lunafest.
DEAR TALULA was directed by Lori Benson; filmed by Heidi Ewing, Peter Ginsburg, Blaise Hayward, Tricia Regan, Jenna Rosher; edited by Nancy Novack; sound mixed by Tom Paul; produced by Lori Benson, Anthony Ciaccio, Donna Santiago, Jonathan Stack; executive producer, Jessica Hirsch.
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