To Dust Shawn Snyder, Jason Begue, Trailer

Grieving the recent death of his wife, Shmuel, a Hasidic cantor in upstate New York, struggles to make peace with his loss. After a series of disturbing dreams, he grows increasingly obsessed with how her interred body will decay. Shmuel decides that, in order to move on, he must understand the science behind the decomposition process of his wife’s body—despite the blasphemy inherent in any scientific inquiry. To assist his sinful pursuit, he seeks out Albert, a community-college biology professor who Shmuel enlists to teach informal science lessons. These soon grow to include homemade experiments and a road trip to a body farm, and, as their macabre misadventures and unlikely friendship grow ever more peculiar, the odd couple prove they will stop at nothing to satiate their curiosity and, ultimately, find Shmuel the peace he seeks. Director Shawn Snyder’s dark buddy comedy is a quirky look at death, biology, mourning, and tradition.

CREDITS

Written and Directed by Shawn Snyder
Co-written by Jason Duran
Produced by Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola, Ron Perlman, Josh Crook, Scott Lochmus
Cinematography by Xavi Gimenez
Edited by Allyson Johnson
Music by Ariel Marx
Principal cast: Geza Rohrig, Matthew Broderick

SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS

 Biology

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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES


Feature Films

A science focused teaching framework for short and feature films, all of which have received awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for their depictions of scientific themes or characters.