What’s in an item? Why do we keep what we keep? In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, Abuela Claudia dies and leaves behind boxes of personal history related to the block. She kept graduation photos of the girl who was smart enough to get out of the barrio; she kept third-grade essays of the boys that she helped raise. She was the matriarch of the block and what she left behind rounded out her character as the one who watches over people.

Charlie Tyrell’s My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes is a study of found items, photos, and footage as Charlie tries to reconnect to his dead father through what was left behind. Though they had a strained relationship, he was never able to piece his dad together while his dad was alive. Sometimes it takes distance and the opening of hidden doors to figure out your parents.

Keep the tissues ready; this one gets emotional.

My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes from Charlie Tyrell on Vimeo.