After a successful run on the festival circuit, Vanessa Gould’s “Obit.” has secured a theatrical release. A press release announced that Kino Lorber has acquired all U.S. rights to the documentary, a surprisingly uplifting look at the obituaries desk at The New York Times. “Obit.” will open at New York’s Film Forum and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on April 26, 2017.
“Every morning, a small staff of obituary writers at The New York Times deposits the details of three or four newsworthy lives into the cultural memory — each story spun amid the daily beat of politics and football scores,” the film’s official synopsis reads. “There are only a handful of editorial obituary writers left in the world, and none are better than at The Times, where obits have become some of the best writing in journalism. Under constant deadline, they navigate fact vs. fiction to craft stories of unusual and notable lives. Each life left a crease in the social fabric.” The film “invites some of the most essential questions we ask ourselves about life, what is remembered, and what never dies.”
“Obit.” made its World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in April, and later screened at fests such as Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto and AFI Docs festival in Washington.
Gould was inspired to tell this story after dealing personally with the Time’s obituary writers. In 2010, one of the subjects of “Between the Folds,” her Peabody Award-winning film, died, and she was “afraid that all we knew of him might disappear with time.” Gould told Women and Hollywood, “I wrote to most of the big English language newspapers around the world and informed them of his death. About a week later, the first and only paper that contacted me was The New York Times and they ran a fitting obituary on him, along with photos of him and his work.” The obituary left a major impression on her, and the experience led her “to a deep point of curiosity about the cultural, historical, and journalistic gravity of obituaries.”
“‘Obit.’ is a film that defies expectations” said Wendy Lidell, Theatrical SVP of Kino Lorber. “It is not a film about death, but about life, and what constitutes a life well lived. It is surprising and inspirational, funny, and seamlessly crafted.” She emphasized, “We are dying to get this film to the widest possible audiences nationwide.”
Gould added, “The more editorial obits you read, the more you get pulled into the incredible daily storytelling by the NYTimes obit editors and writers. Studying the lives of others has become a point of intense fascination and rumination for me as a filmmaker,” she explained. “I am extremely proud to partner with Kino Lorber to bring ‘Obit.’ to U.S. audiences. They are our ideal partner for a film like this.”
