Life and death By the River

Regarded as the spiritual capital of India, Varansi, which lies on the banks of the Ganges river, is a place to which many Hindus go to die. 

Hindu scriptures say that if you are to die in the city, and are cremated along the banks of the Ganges, you are able to attain 'liberation' and break the cycle of rebirth. The film, directed by Dan Braga Ulvestad, examines this belief and features interviews with those who essentially devote much of their life to their eventual death.

"I wanted to explore India's holiest city, where life coexists with the afterlife, and get familiar with the devout Hindus, young and old, who abandon their lives and move [to Varasi] in the hope of dying," said Braga Ulvestad. "It's such a foreign, and dare I say, alien way of life that I wanted to explore it and take the audience on a journey. My goal was to humanise these people, and potentially create some understanding of their choices, and even pose questions around what is deemed normal and absurd regarding life and death. A western materialistic life, where many see death as a taboo, might just be as alien for some."