Magnolia’s Hope: A Conversation with Filmmaker AJ Tesler

When three-year-old Magnolia Tesler was diagnosed with a rare disease, her parents didn’t know what to do. This intimate documentary follows the Tesler family as they spring into action in an effort to cure their daughter from a rare, debilitating disorder. An ordinary and healthy baby, she was crawling, talking, and hitting all her milestones. But around the age of two, she started developing mysterious symptoms: balance issues, hand wringing, speech loss, and rocking for hours in her crib. Her parents, AJ and Jenny, were desperate for answers. After taking Maggie to numerous specialists, they got a heartbreaking diagnosis: Rett Syndrome. Spanning eight years and told through home videos, vlogs, animation, and interviews, “Magnolia’s Hope” is a raw, first-hand account of a family struggling to cope with a child’s special needs through therapies, clinical trials and everything in between.

AJ Tesler is an award winning television, film and new media producer and director who has created thousands of hours of content for the likes of Netflix, Comedy Central, Lionsgate, MTV and Sony. His narrative feature directing debut, Mayfield’s Game is due out in early 2021.