Cemetery Cinema: The Sweet Hereafter and Gates of Heaven
“Death is for the living and not for the dead so much.” - Floyd McClure in Gates of Heaven
The Coolidge returns to Mount Auburn Cemetery to present our popular Cemetery Cinema outdoor film program!
This incredibly unique screening experience will take place at sunset on Tuesday, August 26 at the historic and beautiful Mount Auburn Cemetery. (Rain date: Wednesday, August 27).
The evening begins with the area premiere of a new 4K restoration of The Sweet Hereafter, Atom Egoyan’s Oscar-nominated adaptation of Russell Banks’ novel about a small town reeling from a devastating tragedy. Our second feature is Errol Morris’ incredible debut documentary Gates of Heaven, which examines the devotions, emotions and at times, obsessions exhibited by animal lovers when a pet cemetery is moved to a new location. Both sincere and satirical, the film is an endlessly surprising and often funny look at how we grieve.
Mount Auburn Cemetery is located 580 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge. Parking will be available at the cemetery, and light concessions will be sold. Chairs, blankets, and snacks are encouraged, but no alcohol, please. Mount Auburn Cemetery is an active burial place and a sacred site to mourners. Please keep this in mind as you set up your seating space and refrain from touching or leaning against any of the monuments or headstones.
The seating area is an uneven grassy field surrounded by monuments and gravestones. For inquiries about accessibility, to request an accommodation, or if you have any questions about your membership, please contact friends@mountauburn.org.
About the Sweet Hereafter
A small mountain community in Canada is devastated when a school bus accident leaves more than a dozen of its children dead. A big-city lawyer (Ian Holm) arrives to help the survivors’ and victims’ families prepare a class-action suit, but his efforts only seem to push the townspeople further apart. At the same time, one teenage survivor of the accident (Sarah Polley) has to reckon with the loss of innocence brought about by a different kind of damage
About Gates of Heaven
Errol Morris burst out of the gate with this brilliant debut feature, about two pet cemeteries in Northern California and the people involved with them. Such a description, however, can hardly do justice to the captivating, funny, and enigmatic Gates of Heaven, a film that is about our relationships to our pets, each other, and ourselves. Both sincere and satirical, this is an endlessly surprising study of human nature.
ABOUT MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY
Founded in 1831 as America’s first landscaped cemetery, Mount Auburn Cemetery is a place of exquisite horticultural beauty and cultural importance. A National Historic Landmark, its renowned landscape inspired the creation of the nation’s public parks. Still an active burial place, Mount Auburn Cemetery also provides comfort and solace to countless families, with hundreds of burials and cremations taking place annually. The Friends of Mount Auburn, the Cemetery’s non-profit education trust offers more than 100 public programs each year to celebrate Mount Auburn’s many facets and raises funds to support the preservation of this national treasure. For more information visit mountauburn.org
Additional support is provided by Boston Light & Sound.
