CROSSING THE RIVER the new film by Walter Steffen, Info-Trailer

„It is the living who close the dead’s eyes, it is the dead who open the eyes of the living“.
Human life reaches its full value through its finite nature. Following this insight the upcoming film „Crossing the River“ documents the dying of five human beings on our planet. It accompanies the next relatives when they take leave from the deceased and follows them for a year on their different ways through their mourning, from the bitter experience of death back into a new life.
The film watches respectfully how people in different cultures deal with the intensive moments of dying and the mourning about their beloved ones: In a Christian family in Germany (Munich), in a Jewish family in Israel (Jerusalem), in a Buddhist-Taoist family in Taiwan (Taipei), in a Muslim family in Morocco (Fès) and in a family influenced by Condomblé and Catholicism in Brazil (Salvador da Bahia). The film puts its focus especially on the traditional rituals and active mourning work by which people find back into normal life. So „Crossing the River“ is a film showing the value and singularity of life.