Flashy Funerals

Bill T. Jones: Still/Here(en)

Bill Moyers and filmmaker David Grubin give viewers a rare glimpse into dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones’s highly acclaimed dance Still/Here. At workshops around the country, people facing life-threatening illnesses are asked to remember the highs and lows of their lives, and even imagine their own deaths. They then transform their feelings into expressive movement, which Jones incorporates into the dance performed later in the program. For this documentary, Jones demonstrates the movements of his own life story: his first encounter with white people, confusion over his sexuality, his partner Arnie Zane’s untimely death from AIDS, and Jones’s own HIV-positive status.

Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist(en)

The story of Robert Flanagan, a man who was born with cystic fibrosis and told he wouldn't live past 20, who through a unique odyssey of masochism, art and love found a way to live decades past his expiration date.

Bob's Funeral(en)

Searching for the root of generational trauma, the director takes a camera into his estranged grandfather’s funeral.

Germany in Autumn(de)

Germany in Autumn does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped, and later murdered, by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the orginal leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.

George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing(en)

Carlin returns to the stage in his 13th live comedy stand-up special, performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York City for HBO®. His spot-on observations on the deterioration of human behavior include Americans’ obsession with their two favorite addictions - shopping and eating; his creative idea for The All-Suicide Channel, a new reality TV network; and the glorious rebirth of the planet to its original pristine condition - once the fires and floods destroy life as we know it.

Faces of Death(en)

A collection of death scenes, ranging from TV-material to home-made super-8 movies. The common factor is death by some means.

The Funeral of Metropolitan Emilianos of Silyvria(mk)

A six minute film of the funeral of the murdered Metropolitan Emilianos of Grevena, of which all has been lost, save for 17 seconds. Emilianos was murdered on October 1st, 1911.

Küss mich, wenn es Liebe ist(de)

In Foreign Soil(de)

In fremder Erde (In Foreign Soil) documents the Muslim traditions of burial in Turkey and Germany, but above all, the paths the dead take to return to Anatolian soil.

François Mitterrand, à bout portant : 1993-1996(fr)

"What could be more unsettling than a man close to death whose profound arrogance drives him relentlessly to hang onto both his power and his writing, to the bitter end?" In the twilight of his second seven-year term, François Mitterrand was alone. Ravaged by illness and abandoned by a large majority of the Socialist Party, who would not forgive him for the disastrous outcome of the March 1993 elections, the Head of State was preparing to tackle a second round of cohabitation with the right wing. However a series of unexpected tragedies and revelations would arise, casting a shadow over the end of his reign…

Bis dass dein Tod uns scheidet(de)

Horrifying certainty about the date of his death drives one man crazy.

Tschüss, war schön!(de)

Our Town(en)

Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. People grow up, get married, live, and die. Milk and the newspaper get delivered every morning, and nobody locks their front doors. This musicalization of Thornton Wilder's classic play stars Frank Sinatra who introduces the song, "Love and Marriage," which would go on to be immortalized as the theme song to the sitcom Married with Children.

The Bridge(en)

The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.

Sieben Mulden und eine Leiche(de)

Thomas Haemmerli is about to celebrate his fortieth birthday when he learns of his mother's death. A further shock follows when he and his brother Erik discover her apartment, which is filthy and full to bursting with junk. It takes the brothers an entire month to clean out the place. Among the chaos, they find films going back to the 1930s, photos and other memorabilia.

First Things and Last Things(de)

Upon suddenly learning of her imminent death, Jacqueline von Kaenel begins to search for the key to her life. Unsparingly, she looks back and discovers how everything is connected; her youth in Franco’s Spain with her mother’s feudal past in eastern Prussia, her desire for music with the one for a dominant and powerful husband. In her ambition to be a perfect mother, she recognizes her fight for identity. But all of a sudden experiences from her childhood in a seemingly happy family crop up turning everything upside down.

The Art of Grieving(en)

After the untimely death of his 35-year old brother, an artist explores the questions that surfaced from grief by painting 365 paintings and to spur conversation in culture.

The Best Place to Be(de)

After they have graduated from school, the two best friends Kati and Jo jump into their purple Benz and embark on a journey around the world southwards. Kati, however, struggled with the decision for the journey as the love of her life returned to their hometown Tandern shortly before their departure. The journey leads the two friends over the Brenner pass, where their car suddenly stops working. When Kati then also learns that her grandfather is about to die, she wants to return home – this puts the friendship of the two to an acid test.

Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers(en)

Stacey tackles the subject of death by immersing herself in the world of undertaking at a century-old funeral director's.

Half Elf(is)

A lighthouse keeper prepares his earthly funeral while trying to reconnect with his inner elf. Hulda and Trausti have shared a roof on the Icelandic coast for over seventy years. Her love of books is matched by his love of stones. When he tells her he wants to change his name to Elf she warns him that the family will reject him. Now, as his one hundredth birthday nears and Trausti senses the hand of death upon him, he is searching for an elf’s coffin…