Death & Other Fears

Becoming Hines Ward

From Super Bowl MVP to a man searching for peace, this is the untold story of Hines Ward—whose journey is defined not by touchdowns, but by identity. The son of a Korean mother and an American soldier, Ward grew up caught between worlds, never fully accepted by either. Football made him a legend, but couldn’t quiet the questions: Who am I? Where do I belong? Decades later, Ward returns to South Korea with his family to confront the culture he once resented and the sacrifices his mother made. What begins as a personal pilgrimage becomes a reckoning with history and a mission to change the lives of children who now walk the path he once did.

Canine

A family in rural area of West Java, Indonesia enjoys their time with 'Ngadu Bagong', a sundanese traditional game where dogs put to fight against a wild boar in a single event. Ngadu Bagong has always been some sort of animal abuse but it's been in the tradition for a long time. Ade Rohmat has been in the game for a long time; a hobby that he now passes on to his daughter, Ilma Nurjanah. The potentially controversial Ngadu Bagong has always brought intense emotion, prestige, and fortune upon its practicioners.

Derniers soins

While everyone wants to die "at home" without suffering and surrounded by loved ones, in reality almost everyone dies in hospital. What healthcare provisions enable people to die at home? Are we all equal in terms of the support we receive, regardless of where we live? Young caregivers in a home hospitalization unit drive day and night along the Alabaster Coast. From house to house, from dying person to dying person. Accompanying a dying person at home also means accompanying their loved ones, immersing oneself for a few days or weeks in the intimacy of a family history. Thanks to them, the end of life returns to the home, to the family, and is rehumanized.

By the River

Varanasi is the Indian city where Hindus go to die. Stretching along the Ganges, Varanasi holds great spiritual significance because Hindu scriptutres say that anyone who dies there will attain moksha—liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Berlin-based director Dan Braga Ulvestad captures life and death in India’s heartland in this moving documentary filled with exquisite cinematic moments. By the River starts its narrative journey with the city’s “death hotels,” dedicated apartments where people wait to die, sometimes for decades, so they can be cremated on the banks of the Ganges.

The grave is green

A documentary about a funeral director and her views on life and death.

12/35

This film explores the lives of those men and the memories of those left behind: the childhoods they shared and the choices they made. These men, now in their 60s, reflect on what has happened to their generation, why most of their friends and relatives died so young and how this particular apartment block captures the story of a whole generation. The voices and lives of the departed are included in clips from amateur videos from the 1990s. Set against the background of old friends’ attempt to understand their deaths, this film is about nostalgia and how memories kindle a special kind of love for home.

Dum spiro spero

Well-known Croatian author Pero Kvesić, who has been struggling with a severe lung disease, documents his death from his own point of view. Recording his everyday struggle, the picture resembles a peculiar blog filled with self-irony and witty comments about life and death. Although the world around continues to shrink, the hero and the director in one does not cease to fill it with sense.

Aside From That

How do we live, knowing we are going to die? In search of answers, we probed the minds of atheists, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, physicians, philosophers, authors, academics, a legendary stand-up comic, and scores of random pedestrians.

My Blue Heaven

A son films his elderly mother as she cares for his ailing father on his deathbed.

Transparent, I am.

In the year 2020, when the world was forced to ‘change’, I wanted to confirm what changed and what did not change in me. The white mask I wore became the screen projecting my past. My family is sometimes hurt, but support me as I suffer from schizophrenia. We live today while looking for the answer to ‘Who are we?’

Liubov

Liubov, a Russian lady who lives in Mexico City. During the routine of her day, Liubov will recall the experiences she had with death, from childhood to adulthood.

Con Traje y Sin Zapatos

Why Must We Die?

Swedish children's program about death by Margareta Strömstedt. The program tries to answer the questions many children think about - what happens when you die? Why do people and animals die? And why is death so difficult to understand?

Necromaquiagem

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The Body in the Bag

Examining one of the most baffling unexplained deaths of recent years. In August 2010, Gareth Williams, a GCHQ employee on a 3-year secondment to MI6, was found dead inside a padlocked duffle bag in the bath of his London flat.

Tender

A big hearted community celebrates life by fronting up to death. Set against the stunning backdrop of the industrial seaside town of Port Kembla, a feisty and resilient community group have determined to take back the responsibility that most of us leave to someone else — to care for their own dead. Scattered throughout are stories that cut to the core revealing why this small band have decided to take on a practice that for most is taboo. As their plans for community-based funerals gather momentum one of their own is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Tender is at once a heartbreakingly beautiful and beautifully funny glimpse of an extraordinary community taking on one of the most essential challenges of human life … its end.