Documentary Short · 2019 · Varanasi, India

By the River

Stretching along the river Ganges, Varanasi is the holiest of India's seven sacred cities — a place where devout Hindus go to die in hopes of achieving moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth. A number of so-called “death hotels” exist to house believers who abandon their lives and wait here for death, some for as long as forty years. The film follows pilgrims and residents alike, approaching an unfamiliar way of life with empathy, and asking what is truly normal when it comes to how we face death.