By the River

A virtual pilgrimage to India's "death hotels" directed by Dan Braga Ulvestad

Duration: 25 min
Release date: 2021-03-11
IMDB

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.

Documentary

By the River

Similar Films

  • Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon
  • The Reality of Truth
  • Un viaje
  • Believer
  • Bridgend
  • Marjoe
  • Tight: The World of Indian Bodybuilding
  • Buzz
  • Julia Sweeney - Letting Go of God
  • Folle de Dieu
  • Pastor Angelicus
  • The Last Maneater: Killer Tigers of India
  • Dum spiro spero
  • Countdown to Eternity
  • All About Jesus – Who Is This Jesus?
  • Tender
  • Documenti su Giuseppe Pinelli
  • De l'autre côté

NextFilm 2025