I. about the film
II. based on a true story
III. remembering Kathleen Collins
IV. screenings & press
download the Press Kit
about the film.
2025, Narrative, Drama, 14min, 4:3, 4k, Digital & Archival
a he love i could handle is a reimagining of the filmmaker’s mother’s childhood memory—an exploration of motherhood, artistry, and the unseen sacrifices that shape a legacy. Inspired by her grandmother, Kathleen Collins (Losing Ground, 1982)—a pioneering Black filmmaker whose work went largely unrecognized in her lifetime—this film unfolds on the day she completed her seminal feature. But this isn’t just a story of triumph. It lingers in the quiet spaces between devotion and distance, presence and absence, as her two young children struggle to grasp a mother who is both deeply there and just out of reach.
Blending memory and imagination, all the love i could handle is an intimate meditation on the delicate bond between mother and child, artist and self.
2025, Narrative, Drama, 14min, 4:3, 4k, Digital & Archival
a he love i could handle is a reimagining of the filmmaker’s mother’s childhood memory—an exploration of motherhood, artistry, and the unseen sacrifices that shape a legacy. Inspired by her grandmother, Kathleen Collins (Losing Ground, 1982)—a pioneering Black filmmaker whose work went largely unrecognized in her lifetime—this film unfolds on the day she completed her seminal feature. But this isn’t just a story of triumph. It lingers in the quiet spaces between devotion and distance, presence and absence, as her two young children struggle to grasp a mother who is both deeply there and just out of reach.
Blending memory and imagination, all the love i could handle is an intimate meditation on the delicate bond between mother and child, artist and self.
inspired by a true story
all the love i could handle is drawn from the real life of my grandmother, pioneering Black filmmaker and civil rights activist Kathleen Collins. In the summer of 1982, Kathleen was racing to finish her groundbreaking feature film — a rare, complex portrait of Black life — while raising two young children.
Told through her daughter’s eyes, this story reveals the intimate, messy, and beautiful push and pull between a mother’s creative dreams and her responsibilities at home. It’s about the sacrifices we make for our art, the wounds we inherit, and the possibility of healing across generations.
For me, this project is more than a film — it’s a personal act of restoration. Growing up, my grandmother’s story was shrouded in silence, and my relationship with my own mother was shaped by that absence. In telling this story, I’ve come to know them both in a new way.
Kathleen Collins was one of the first Black women in America to direct a feature film. A gifted storyteller, she created deeply nuanced, human portraits of Black life at a time when such work was almost unseen in American cinema. She mentored fellow artists like Julie Dash, challenged icons like Spike Lee, and balanced her activism with an uncompromising artistic vision. Though her work was largely overlooked in her lifetime, she is now celebrated as a pioneer whose influence echoes through generations of filmmakers.
This is my love letter to every artist who’s fought to be heard, every mother who’s made mistakes, and every child — still inside us — longing to be loved.
Pioneer in Film, Theater & Civil Rights
Kathleen Collins (1942–1988) was a groundbreaking Black filmmaker, playwright, teacher, and activist whose work broke barriers of race, gender, and representation. Best known for her feature films Losing Ground and The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy, she was one of the first Black American women to write and direct a feature-length film.
Her stories center on complex, intelligent Black characters—particularly women—navigating art, love, and selfhood. Beyond her artistic achievements, Collins was deeply committed to social justice, working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the Civil Rights Movement and teaching generations of students to see the world—and themselves—through a more expansive lens.
She died in 1988 at just 46, leaving behind unfinished works, an indelible legacy, and a body of art that continues to inspire.
Biography in Brief
Born in Jersey City, NJ, in 1942, Collins studied at Skidmore College and the Sorbonne. She was an activist with SNCC during the Civil Rights Movement, working to register Black voters in the segregated South and enduring multiple arrests for her activism, credited as being one of two people who penned MLK’s I Have A Dream speech.
In her creative career, she moved fluidly between theater and film. Her best-known works include the film Losing Ground, the plays In the Midnight Hour and The Brothers, and a posthumously published short story collection Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? (Ecco Press, 2016). She raised two children, Nina and Emilio, in Piermont, NY, and remained deeply committed to telling stories rarely seen on screen or stage.
click here for more: articles, her work, press & impact
Ruby Rose Collins is a filmmaker whose work explores memory—how it warps, reshapes, and ultimately defines our lives. She is drawn to the fragile lines between truth and perception, often blending personal history with collective memory. With a background in investigative documentary and a B.A. in Film and African American Studies from Wesleyan University, Ruby’s storytelling is rooted in nonfiction sensibilities. She was a 2020 Fellow at the Creative Visions Foundation’s Women Excel Project. Her short documentary My Abortion Saved My Life (2022) premiered at Outfest Los Angeles and went on to screen at more than twenty festivals worldwide. Her latest narrative film, all the love i could handle, premiered at Blackstar, ABFF, Hollyshorts & more.
screenings to date
The New Black Film Collective
London, 2025
Seattle Black Film Festival
Seattle, 2025
American Black Film Festival
Miami, 2025
Blackstar Film Festival
Philadelphia, 2025
Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival
Martha’s Vineyard, 2025
Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival
Rhode Island, 2025
Hollyshorts 21st Annual Film Festival
Los Angeles, 2025
New Hampshire Film Festival
Portland, 2025
REFOCUS Iowa Film Festival
Iowa City, 2025
upcomig screenings
9/6 NOT YOUR DADDY’S FILMS - Los Angeles
press