The Last Rite is a 48-minute film on grief and how that is ritualized in three different cultures. This film, which I produced for writer and director, Gina Valle, is on a topic I am very familiar with due to my extensive work with the elderly.

I wanted to explore why we, as a society, continue to fear death and then, when the inevitable has happened, insist on keeping our grief contained, whereas in other cultures, it is so openly expressed. What makes one culture sniff quietly into a hankie while another wails or keens? The answer, of course, lies in how we live our lives in a fast-paced world that leaves little room for stepping back and just letting emotions wash over us.

The Last Rite looks at the rituals performed in three religions; Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam at the time death occurs and the comfort these traditions offer the bereaved.

Crew
Above: Left to right: Director Gina Valle, Dr. Paul Wong, Director of Photography Nigel Akam,
Soundman Mike Sanders, Production Assistant Jeff Osborn, and Producer Ingrid Berzins Leuzy

Below: Gina Valle and Ingrid conferring outside the Mosque

GinaandIngrid2
Shot in and around Toronto the film takes us on a journey of discovery through various places of worship where the cultural traditions and last rites of these three religions are delicately explored. The result is a film about an important topic; our own mortality and the comfort that certain last rites can offer us during our times of grief.

The Last Rite can be viewed on OMNI TV in both English and Italian.