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Paper short abstract:

Death is not the end. I can see it from here though. This film is an essay on the phenomenon of "return" and potential transformation of death through the re-creation of the ancestors. It poses the universal question: How do you confront your own end?

Paper long abstract:

Viktor Valerevich Mumikhotkak also known as "Mukha", Chukchi from the hamlet New Chaplino (Chukotka, Russia), died tragically in 2012. Somebody stabbed him in his abdomen and cut off his fingers. In 2014, when young Alla Ukuma gave birth to her first son, her mother told her: "Last night I saw Mukha in my dream. He had come back in your boy. Let us name your baby Viktor". According to the local people, the dead can return to the realm of the living up to five times. The film is an in-depth study of the phenomenon of "return" (rebirth) among Chukchi- and Yupik people in Chukotka, Russia. It provides new insights on the hidden mechanisms behind the death-related behaviour seen as transformation and re-creation of the ancestors in the newborns.

Shooting Formats: b&w/colour,8mm/miniDV/HD

Screening Format: DCP or MP4

2016, 65 minutes, orig.language Russian