Obit.

It’s no surprise that the small team of journalists on the obituaries desk at the New York Times are a thoughtful group and make for excellent subjects in this witty and illuminating documentary. Filmmaker Vanessa Gould conceived of the subject for Obit. after being interviewed by a staff writer at the Times following the death of a friend. Her film sheds light on how deaths are covered by the paper of record, and on the nature of writing and celebrating human achievement. “Teems with colorful anecdotes. . . . It effuses an obit writer’s intellectual curiosity and itch for a good story”(Soheil Rezayazdi, Filmmaker Magazine).