Crossing Over

Directed by Jin Yanlin

“Crossing Over” is a poetic and reflexive documentary that delves into the ways in which people grapple with mortality, connect with the deceased and give meaning to the spaces for the dead. Laying our eyes on burial grounds and places of commemoration and lending our ears to tales of rituals and traditions that surround death, the film brings both the filmmakers and viewers on a journey to “cross over” from the realm of the living to the land for the dead. The transition from graveyards to columbaria and the replacement of cemeteries with modern buildings prompts a much-needed rumination on the significance that the living bestows on those revered sites and rites, which in turn, defines their relationship with the spaces. The film does not and is unable to provide an answer to the meaning of death and space, but rather it strives to provoke contemplation and reflection on the dichotomy of "for the dead or for the living".