Gabriela Böhm

The Malady of a Dragonfly

in development

Scientific data shows a connection between traumatic events in our ancestors’ lives and the daily life experiences of their offspring. If transmitted trauma is passed in a stress-related gene, how does emotional and physical trans-generational trauma express itself? And, what is the physical and metaphorical space held by the dead in those who survive them?

By weaving personal narrative, scientific data, Kabbalah (mystical writings) texts, and interviews with Chevra Kadisha members (those who attend the dead) and neuroscientists, the film will explore loss, the need to resolve our painful memories, and how grief transcends generations. It will investigate the delicate nature of death and memory, shared traumatic experience, and the responsibility of those left behind to remember.