Under the Radar is Women and Hollywood’s newest feature. Published monthly, the post offers a chance for us to highlight works by and/or about women that haven’t received big releases or significant coverage in the press, but are wholly worthy of attention.

To recommend a title for this feature, please e-mail womenandhollywoodinterns@gmail.com.

Winner of the Best Documentary at the British Independent Film Awards, “Almost Heaven” follows 17 year-old Ying Ling, who is living hundreds of miles away from her parents’ home in rural China. She’s starting her mortician traineeship at one of the largest funeral homes in the country. The juxtaposition of the living and the dead is one of the more striking elements of British director-cinematographer Carol Salter’s documentary, which had its world premiere a year ago at Berlinale.

In Ying Ling, the film finds a playful subject: an ordinary teenage girl who is afraid of ghosts, enjoys amusement arcades, and finds herself falling in love for the first time with the boy she works with. Through their camaraderie at work, and their social interactions in their spare time, Ying finds joy in life amidst all the death she’s surrounded by.

Despite the specificity of her circumstances, Ying still agonizes with the very same existential questions of countless adolescents on the cusp of adulthood: is this all there is to my life or can I achieve something greater than this?

Through Ying and her co-worker, the film explores the alienation and experiences of young, migratory workers in China, who — unlike the unschooled laborers of previous generations — are high-school graduates seeking better opportunities and higher-paid jobs in the cities, even if it means travelling great distances from home.

However it’s our need as humans to face the reality of death that inspired Salter to make the film, as she revealed in an interview: “I read this tiny article in a newspaper about young people in China wanting to give honor and respect to the dead by becoming morticians,” she recalled. “The idea of teenagers having to care for the dead every day struck me. How does someone deal with that every day, especially someone that young?”

Salter has credited the filming process with allowing her to develop her own understanding of death, and how to approach one’s relationship with a loved one after they die. “I want the film to offer these insights to both an audience with no immediate experience of dealing with death, and also to those who have experienced losing a loved one,” she said in her director’s statement for the film’s U.S. premiere at Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York. It’s this unique take on the relationship between life and death, through the lens of an unlikely but very likeable subject, that makes the film so fascinating to watch.

Following a healthy presence on the international festival circuit, the film has enjoyed a limited theatrical release in London, alongside additional Q&A screenings around Britain. In addition to two more upcoming London screenings with director Q&A sessions (see full details below), “Almost Heaven” is also scheduled to be screened in France at Creteil International Women’s Film Festival in Creteil, Paris, in March 2018. Further North American screenings are yet to be announced, but you can keep track of screening updates via the film’s website.

Upcoming screenings:

01 March 2018 — Genesis Cinema + Director Q&A @ 6.45pm — London
04 March 2018 — Deptford Cinema + Director Q&A @ 3.30pm — London
9-18 March 2018 — Creteil International Women’s Film Festival — France