Dealing with Death (2020)

  • Human Interest, Multiculturalism, Religion, Society

DESCRIPTION

In the Bijlmer, in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, every culture has its own rituals around death. Funeral manager Anita has the task of attracting all those cultures to her soon to be built multicultural funeral home in the middle of the Bijlmer. Anita sets out on a tour to get to know this unfamiliar world. But the deeper she penetrates, the more she realises how little she knows about the Bijlmer’s different cultures. She is a white Dutchwoman in a ‘multicoloured’ society.

Is this new funeral home uniting all cultures under a single roof
fulfilling the Bijlmer’s needs, or is it the vision of a funeral company that hopes to conquer the market? Anita continues to do her best to win over the Bijlmer, but when she is confronted with death in her own life and she distances herself from the project, the question is whether the new funeral home will ever be built.

Q&A with director Paul Sin Nam Rigter during Sao Paulo Mostra: MOSTRA CONVERSA – PAUL SIN NAM RITGER – YouTube

GALLERY

DIRECTED BY
Paul Sin Nam Rigter, Netherlands, 2020, 73´ & 52´
FESTIVALS
IDFA 2020, Moscow IFF – Documentary Competition, Crossing Europe, EBS IDFF South Korea, Docs Against Gravity, Sao Paulo Mostra, QFest Houston, European FF Indonesia
AWARDS
IDFA 2020 – Best Film in Competition for Dutch Documentary, QFest Houston - Special Humanitarian Prize
BROADCASTERS
EO (NL), EBS (South Korea)
TERRITORIES
World except of Netherlands
EXCLUSIVE SUBJECT
Festival & sales
DIRECTOR BIO

Paul Sin Nam Rigter was adopted from South Korea by a Dutch family at the age of three. While studying communication science, he made his debut as an actor with Toneelgroep Amsterdam and has since appeared in plays, TV series and films. He directed the short films LUX and Zoete Tomaat (Sweet Tomato), the documentary Playing for the Past and The Nose – In search of Blamage and he wrote and directed the thee-part documentary series Heroes of the Maxima.

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