In 2004 Sheldon Oberman, a Jewish storyteller from Winnipeg, passed away. At his funeral the presiding Rabbi said that Sheldon’s spirit was with the congregants in the sanctuary. For filmmaker Saul Henteleff this was a revelation that began a personal and spiritual journey into the meaning of Jewish death. My Jewish Death is the result of this journey.
Saul Henteleff, Ari Ellis, Allan Green, Rena Boroditsky, Neal Rose

During 2020, when the pandemic policy loosened, a violinist went back to hometown in mainland China to meet his parents and his friends. A sudden accident happened, everything changed, and a ceremony is no longer a "ceremony".
2025

A documentary about a funeral director and her views on life and death.
2024

Searching for the root of generational trauma, the director takes a camera into his estranged grandfather’s funeral.
2024

Stacey tackles the subject of death by immersing herself in the world of undertaking at a century-old funeral director's.
2023

Every year, five to ten percent of all deceased Berliners are buried by the authorities because no relatives are found. Most of them are put into the ground by mortician Bernd Simon going alone. But sometimes companions do turn up and say goodbye in their very own way. An observational documentary about an undertaker who actually wanted to become an entertainer, a bizarre city portrait and a mirror of how we deal with death, mourning and commemoration.
2022

Part film, part baptism, in BLACK MOTHER director Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual journey through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and tranquil countryside, Allah introduces us to a succession of vividly rendered souls who call this island home. Their candid testimonies create a polyphonic symphony, set against a visual prayer of indelible portraiture. Thoroughly immersed between the sacred and profane, BLACK MOTHER channels rebellion and reverence into a deeply personal ode informed by Jamaica’s turbulent history but existing in the urgent present.
2018

William Wolff is nearly 90 and perhaps the most unconventional rabbi in the world. As the State Rabbi of North-East Germany, he looks after the Jewish Communities in Schwerin and Rostock, but still lives in a bungalow near Henley-on-Thames. Midweek he usually flies from Heathrow to Germany. After the services on Saturdays, he either makes his way home or on a leisure city trip. His annual highlight is betting at the Horse Race of Royal Ascot and joining a fasting-retreat in Bad Pyrmont. Willy Wolff leads a Jet-Set-Life, which he actually cannot afford, but dealing with money isn't one of his strengths. Naturally, that occasionally leads to quite temporal conflicts. Rabbi Wolff is the portrait of a fascinating character, a deeply religious man who, blessed with a tremendous joie de vivre, defies all conventions. More than that, it gives insight into the world of Judaism and introduces us to a uniquely German biography.
2016

For most of us a funeral is traditionally a modest, somber affair, but there are some families who are prepared to go above and beyond to ensure their loved ones go out in style. Warm, funny and surprising, this film explores some of the UKs most extraordinary final goodbyes.
2016

The first woman rabbi in the world, Regina Jonas, comes to light, courtesy of Rachel Weisz – who plays her – and her father George Weisz, who was the executive producer for this poetic and beautiful documentary. The daughter of an Orthodox Jewish peddler, Jonas was ordained in Berlin in 1935. During the Nazi era and the war, her sermons and her unparalleled devotion brought encouragement to the persecuted German Jews. Regina Jonas was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. The only surviving photo of Jonas serves as a leitmotif for the film, showing a determined young woman gazing at the camera with self-confidence.
2013

Commentator-comic Bill Maher plays devil's advocate with religion as he talks to believers about their faith. Traveling around the world, Maher examines the tenets of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and raises questions about homosexuality, proof of Christ's existence, Jewish Sabbath laws, violent Muslim extremists.
2008

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.
2007

The Other Side of Burka is a 2004 Iranian documentary directed by Mehrdad Oskouei. In the southern island of Qeshm, Iran, which is a very strict region in point of tradition and African-Arabic rules, all women are under the pressure of patriarch society. Their sufferance is manifested by different mental (Zar, Possession) and physical diseases which must be only treated by Zar Ceremony. For the first time, despite the danger these women face, this film tells us the sad story of their life and shows their confection in front of the camera. It tries to be an honest mirror which reflects their sufferance and unveils their Burka to reveal their real characters.
2004

Darrell Scott tells stories of his daughter, high school student, Rachel Joy Scott. Also included is footage from her funeral.
2000

Nine fictitious documentaries and films reflect the mood of late 1970s Germany, particularly the two-month period in 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped by the RAF (Red Army Faction). The kidnap had been made to orchestrate the release of the original leaders of the RAF, aka the Baader-Meinhof.
1978

This controversial film from director Glauber Rocha records the funeral of his friend, major Brazilian painter Emiliano Di Cavalcanti.
1977

Robert Drew shows the sights and sounds from the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in November, 1963. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2002.
1964

Stanley Kubrick’s short documentary about Father Fred Stadtmueller, a Catholic priest serving a vast 4,000-square-mile parish in rural New Mexico. To reach his scattered congregation, he pilots his own Piper Cub aircraft, the Spirit of St. Joseph. Over two days, Kubrick follows the “flying padre” as he conducts Mass, mediates between quarreling children, attends a funeral, and airlifts a sick child to medical care—capturing both the challenges and quiet heroism of his daily mission.
1951
The funeral procession of suffragette Emily Davison - fatally injured at the Epsom Derby - passes through London to her final resting place in Morpeth.
1913

Victims of a tragic air crash are honoured in a sombre military funeral procession through the streets of Hitchin.
1912

On 28 January 1901 the great musician Giuseppe Verdi died from the consequences of a stroke that had struck him six days earlier. These very rare images, captured in Milan on 27 February 1901 by the operator and pioneer of Milanese cinema Italo Pacchioni, document the transfer of the Maestro's body from the Monumental Cemetery of Milan to the famous retirement home for musicians which he himself founded.
1901