ABOUT
THE FILM
Science is studying ghosts? Really?
In this Best Documentary film festival winner, a widow suffering prolonged grief agrees to participate in a research study that aims to reconnect bereaved survivors with their departed loved ones. The process is known as Induced After-Death Communication (IADC), and it is rapidly gaining recognition among psychologists, academics and bereavement professionals.
LIFE WITH GHOSTS records the first-ever publicly funded attempt to facilitate contact with deceased individuals to determine if such contact can be used to reduce severe grief symptoms. In an area where traditional talk therapy has been largely ineffective, at a time when 70,000 Americans die from prescription drug misuse in a single year, this film heralds a welcome alternative for the chronically bereaved.
THE MESSAGE
Of the 270 million bereaved people in the world, up to 30% suffer Prolonged Grief Disorder, a debilitating condition that can last for years or even a lifetime.
Researchers have known for decades that survivors do better with their grief when an emotional bond is maintained with the deceased. And yet psychologists, grief counselors, and clergy routinely discourage such behavior as “denial” or even “heresy.”
With the staggering recent increase in sudden deaths ushered in by pandemic and war, new science for addressing grief is needed now more than ever. By making this film
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widely available, we hope to spread thenews about a ground-breaking intervention that has been tested and proven effective for the treatment of grief.
FEATURED speakers
CAST
Fernanda Rossi is an internationally renowned author, speaker and story analyst. She has collaborated on more than 500 fiction scripts, documentaries and fundraising samples, including two documentaries nominated for the Academy Award® and many that received funding.
Christopher Seward graduated from NYU Film School and has been filmmaking in various capacities for over 20 years including lead editor for Fahrenheit 911 and Sicko and more recently Weed the People; as writer for Complicit and Tawai; and as story editing consultant for One Child Nation (Sundance Grand Jury Award) and People’s Republic of Desire (SXSW Grand Jury Award).
Stephen Berkley is a writer who began his career with the fledgling MTV Networks in the 90s. He later penned scripts for broadcast television but ultimately landed in the distribution side of the industry in business affairs. Years later, after his father passed and his mother reported experiences involving his father's ghost, Stephen returned to the creative realm with the documentary Life With Ghosts, which features characters from his mother's community who have reported similar experiences with their late spouses.
Max Frankton graduated from NYU Film School and has been in the film and television industry for more than 30 years. Max was a contributing filmmaker on the History Channel’s 5, 10, and 15-year retrospective on 9/11 entitled102 Minutes That changed America. He produced and directed the documentary feature Look Twice, and the award-winning documentary short, Just Into Girls and produced the narrative web series pilot Big T.
Brenda Ray is a graduate of the London International Film School and has been recording audio in the world of documentary films and commercial television for over 20 years. Her extensive credits include Inside Job, Taxi to the Dark Side, and Years of Living Dangerously. Brenda is also the founder and operator of the World Voices Project, a mosaic of recordings of people reading the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights in their native language. Currently 60 Languages can be heard on this web site.
Harry Clark is an award-winning cinematographer with a background in television commercials and a particular concentration in documentary style and product photography. He has worked on several feature films and documentaries including King Of The Jungle, The Devil And Daniel Johnston, and Kiss Loves You. Harry’s technical abilities are as varied as his career while straddling the analog and the digital eras.