PRESS
ABOUT THE FILM
"Even as I write this, I’m still haunted by the experience of watching 32 Pills."
Film Independent • January 11, 2018
"These female documentary directors could have been on the Oscar short list ..."
Boston Globe • December 22, 2017
“32 PILLS: MY SISTER’S SUICIDE … takes viewers on a deeply personal and painful journey as Hope explores her artist sister Ruth's life and death.”
Salon • December 11, 2017
“Gut-wrenching … As a postmortem, the film retains a tender touch to both the life and creative work of Ruth Litoff.”
The Daily Dot • December 9, 2017
“Ruth had documented her battle with mental health in her artwork, journals and collections, and the painful process of sifting through it all became Hope's own work of art.”
Daily Mail • December 8, 2017
“Explores mental illness, suicide, relapse, and grief … the emotions run deep”
““Intimate, riveting and brutally honest … a vivid portrait of a complex, brilliant artist, whose bursts of creative genius lived alongside dark depression.”
“If you’re interested in artistic expression, mental illness, and how they intersect, this documentary should be at the top of your list.”
"There’s a tragic beauty to 32 Pills … bleakly toes the line between being depressing and darkly funny … a deeply haunting depiction of mental illness”
“32 PILLS: MY SISTER'S SUICIDE takes an unusually intense personal look at the impact of self-destruction on those left behind.”
Huffington Post • December 7, 2017
"This tense documentary … becomes more voyeuristically gripping as it progresses ...”
“A disturbing and honest portrayal of Ms. Litoff’s efforts to move past her sister’s suicide …”
“A poignant story of two sisters, a subtle portrait of the connection between mental illness and art and also a revealing look at the perils of personal filmmaking … devastatingly sad but ultimately redeeming …”
“Litoff manages to end on an upbeat note with the help of her artistic sister’s beautiful photographs.”
“A filmmaker strives to understand her once-vibrant sister’s path to despair, mental illness and early death in … 32 PILLS: MY SISTER’S SUICIDE”
“32 PILLS: MY SISTER'S SUICIDE … captures Litoff's grieving process in stark detail.”
HOPE LITOFF: "This is the part that's most healing for me … I feel less alone when people say thank you, I have a similar story, and I hope and I think that they feel less alone too. And that's really the incredible healing part."
“The powerful story of one sister struggling to know and accept the other in a way she was never able to in life, even as she learns to live with the pain of loss.”
“Years after the suicide of her sister Ruth, a talented but troubled artist, director Hope Litoff tries to make sense of her loss. … Confronting her grief yields no simple answers and instead threatens to lead Hope on a precarious collision course with her own inner demons.”
Whatnottodoc • November 28, 2017
“Litoff’s directorial debut, 32 PILLS … provides a window into her own unraveling as she examines her sister’s past while wrestling with her own sobriety.”
Reelscreen • November 27, 2017
"Without question, however, the film that could well leave audiences gasping and talking for weeks to come is the Quebec theatrical première of the documentary 32 PILLS: MY SISTER'S SUICIDE."
Montreal Gazette • October 20, 2017
"Through this unvarnished and sometimes brutal soul-baring process, Litoff ultimately achieves an expression of her grief that is palpable and feels true to the viewer…"
Los Angeles Times • October 19, 2017
"32 PILLS is a riveting, brutally honest documentary that delivers an extremely poignant message about mental illness and coping with the loss of a loved one to suicide."
TheHollywoodTimes.net • October 16, 2017
"The film is occasionally shocking ... pervasively heartbreaking."
Washington City Paper • June 15, 2017
"32 PILLS: MY SISTER'S SUICIDE ... will certainly resonate deeply with anyone who has struggled with depression or addiction or loved anyone who has. It’s no doubt been cathartic for its first-time filmmaker, and will likely prove the same for many viewers as well."
Hollywood Reporter • May 11, 2017
"Gripping and discomfiting..."
Variety • May 9, 2017
"32 PILLS is a film so moving and so beautiful that it goes beyond documenting the life and death of artist Ruth Litoff and becomes a piece of art itself."
MUFF Blog • April 27, 2017
32 PILLS: MY SISTER'S SUICIDE - Director Hope Litoff and Producer Beth Levison on the ethics of the subject-filmmaker relationship and why documentary is better than fiction.
Hot Docs Industry • April 24, 2017
"Andrew Herwitz’s Film Sales Company has picked up worldwide sales rights to Hope Litoff’s 32 PILLS ahead of the world premiere at Hot Docs next month."
Screen Daily • April 12, 2017
"The Artscapes series returns to explore the intersection of art and film with features like 32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide, in which director Hope Litoff investigates the eponymous event through an inventory of the items left behind.”
Now Toronto • March 21, 2017
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Please note! Until October 2016, our working title was RULES TO LIVE BY. Any mentions of RULES TO LIVE BY in the press are references to the film now entitled 32 PILLS!
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"...HBO already has a first-look deal with RULES TO LIVE BY, another favorite project at the Forum. While the story of director Hope Litoff’s search to understand the suicide of her sister artist Ruth Litoff may sound like a downer, Litoff has described the tone of the film as 'witty, sad, often outrageous and even funny.' BBC’s Nick Fraser called the project 'very brave and terrific,' and praised the trailer for its 'texture" and the way it beautifully expressed her observations."
"Hope Litoff pitched a deeply personal portrait of her late sister Ruth in RULES TO LIVE BY ... The New York-based editor-turned-director told the Forum that she is looking to 'get to know [her] sister in death in a way she couldn’t in life,' and an elegant trailer detailed the story of the two sisters, focusing on Ruth’s artwork and effervescence in life, as well as the mental illness that led to her death."
"Hope Litoff’s RULES TO LIVE BY ... showed potential to be the sort of idiosyncratic cult doc you can’t forget years later.."
" 'We can’t talk about the truth.' That’s the message Hope Litoff received when her parents lied to her about her older sister Ruth’s first suicide attempt at age 16, when Hope was 13. ... Hope is tracing her family’s journey in a documentary called RULES TO LIVE BY, and she joins ... this week’s episode of Shared Secrets to discuss the shock waves suicide can send through families and communities.."
ABOUT RUTH'S DREAM
"Bellevue's South Lobby is one of the most beautiful places in New York right now, thanks to the installation of Ruth's Dream. It's a series of 8-foot tall photographs of Manhattan's wild flowers, illuminated from within, shot by the late artist Ruth Litoff..."