“I Heard You Calling” is not only a personal passion project but an actual grief-related and holistic-based collaboration between two individuals (an aspiring filmmaker at NYU Tisch and a grieving widow from Springfield, PA) from vastly disparate generations (a 20 year old and a 72 year old) who are immersed in two completely divergent phases of understanding, appreciating, and experiencing the gift of true and endless love. While the young film student recovers from her first teenage heartbreak and commences along the hazy and mine-filled journey in search of true love, the elderly widow, who recently lost the first and only love of his life reveals through the simple reading of a poem and an impromptu afternoon conversation the meaning and essence of true and endless love. The result of this remarkable sequence of events is the production of “I Heard You Calling.” Having just lost his beloved wife Linda, Al Filippone suffers a life-threatening stroke. As Al struggles to recover from the stroke, he is caught between two worlds and conflicting desires. While recovering in the hospital, Al’s condition allows him to travel back in time to the most important moments he shared with Linda to include their first encounter, the adoption of their child Annemarie, and the death of his wife symbolically revealed by a series of flashing Christmas lights. While Al longs to reunite with his wife, his fatherly obligations and love for Annemarie create an inner conflict as in essence escalate tensions between them. While Annmarie fears being left alone, and Al shares in his daughter’s emotions, the power of love transcends all reality, fears and emotions. The message of this film is that once found, genuine true love transcends all time, space, and dimensions. Moreover, there is nothing more powerful and truly valuable on this earth than true love – as it transcends both life and death, and no amount of money, valuables or perceived success can equate to the fulfillment of true love.

The symbols in this film include the stroke and flashbacks which serve as a conduit and portal among present-day reality, the past, and the afterlife. Another set of keys symbol in the film are the Christmas tree and the Christmas light. While the tree itself symbolizes hope, life, renewal and everlasting life – the flickering of the Christmas Lights symbolize the calling of Linda Filippone back home (i.e. her passing). Linda’s chair in the living room, symbolizes her constant presence in Al’s life even in death and it serves as the launchpad guiding Al back home to his beloved Linda.