Death in the CityDeath in the City

The sacred city of Varanasi, situated on the holy Ganges, ‘the river of life’, is the revered destination for death for Hindus since time immemorial. With legendary funeral pyres burning non-stop for over three millennia on the river bank, the city’s status is founded on the belief that dying in Varanasi breaks the repeated cycle of rebirth. Filmed across four years, 2018 - 2021, DEATH IN THE CITY is an intimate portrayal of ‘The City of Life and Death’, the myriad communities who live and work in its ancient streets; including those waiting to die or those working with the dead, along with rare access to the death-worshipping Aghori Saints. This is a film in three movements: the spiritual, the metaphysical and the experiential. The most pressured crematorium in the world, Varanasi’s relationship with death is at the same time auspicious, spiritual, and industrial.