Crew
DB
Dan Braga Ulvestad
Director
CM
Charu Menon
Producer
CW
Caleb Ware
Director of Photography
By the River
A virtual pilgrimage to India's "death hotels" directed by Dan Braga Ulvestad
202125m
Documentary
Varanasi is the Indian city where Hindus go to die. Stretching along the Ganges, Varanasi holds great spiritual significance because Hindu scriptutres say that anyone who dies there will attain moksha—liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Berlin-based director Dan Braga Ulvestad captures life and death in India’s heartland in this moving documentary filled with exquisite cinematic moments. By the River starts its narrative journey with the city’s “death hotels,” dedicated apartments where people wait to die, sometimes for decades, so they can be cremated on the banks of the Ganges.
