Lymph
A FILM BY TESSA V. WEDBERG
Lymph is a hybrid documentary short through the lens of a mother and daughter diagnosed with lymphedema at different points in their lives. The daughter’s symptoms surfaced in her 20’s, on her first job on a film set, and the mothers in her late 60’s after years of surgeries and health challenges. Tessa V. Wedberg is the writer and director of the film and daughter in the story. She wanted to keep anything “imperfect” (lymphedema) invisible but realized (decades later) that discomfort is a great teacher. And that the truth is calming, connective, and the most playful place to create from.
Humor is at the center of how these two women navigate life. This film will house the wild (motherly) wit that has marked every appointment, procedure, and time in a healthcare space. It will feature their interviews, narrative elements, b-roll, designed footage, and hyper realistic sketches of the lymphie life. They want to share anything they have learned that could help someone advocate for themself or a loved one, find access to care, or feel supported wherever they are in the experience.
Co-producer and DP Jon Hustead has been involved in the project since day one – it is a crew of two for now, but they are excited to welcome other Nebraska artists into the process. This short is a proof of concept for a feature where they want to include stories of some of the millions of folks managing lymphedema and the brilliant doctors and practitioners changing the narrative in Nebraska and beyond.
The film will screen in theaters but also be part of a greater body of work involving photography, audio, light boxing, poetry, fabric, and more. She hopes this work will live in hospitals, on empty buildings/barns, and other non-traditional spaces. Tessa would like to open conversation around access to healthcare and how overwhelming and isolating it can be on all sides of the experience. She hopes the work can dream up and encourage new ways to listen, think, and talk about health and disease.
Donate to Lymph
Languid is fiscally sponsored by Amplify Arts. Through fiscal sponsorship, artists, organizers, and cultural workers in the Omaha area can leverage some of the benefits of Amplify’s tax-exempt status to solicit tax-deductible donations.
If you are interested in investing in or donating to Lymph, please click below or email tessavwedberg@gmail.com and check tessavwedberg.com for updates. There are specific needs including travel to conferences, additional crew, music, and post-production funding to complete the project.
Tessa V. Wedberg is a filmmaker, writer, and mixed media artist. She has been freelance writing and in various roles on film, music video, and commercial sets for over 20 years. She is directing more, creative consulting for a variety of companies, and the scope of her practices are expanding. Tessa is creating new bodies of work with photo, film, poetry/text, glass, audio, light, fabric, installation and beyond. She is interested in how we heal, how solitude and connection, truth and discomfort transform and guide us, live in our bodies, and influence the ways we go home. Part of her practice includes archival letters, images, artifacts, and film reels kept by her grandmother and great uncle. She cherishes getting to collaborate with people in her family, across memory and time, who documented, kept, and wrote down what became history.
Tessa got a BS in Journalism and concentration in film from The University of Oregon. She produced the Faces from the Interior film series featured at The Joslyn Museum and the photography and short films featured in The Grid at the Luminarium (and directed a few). A collaboration with Ikran Hamza and Kristin Zahra called Poet(s) was chosen as part of the video wall gallery at Millwork in 2024. Her X-ray lightbox pieces and images on glass showed at the APMA Gallery in early 2025 and the LALA arts organization is supporting a prototype of a larger work called Telephone that will be installed in fall 2025. She is currently writing and directing a documentary/hybrid film called (working title) Lymph, in post on a short, creating a poetry series, and more.