“Formally elegant and conceptually rigorous, 'Instructions on Parting' is a work that bears witness.”
— David Shapiro,
“A vivid visual translation of psychological truth…Satisfyingly unconventional…[Jenkins] makes an eloquent case that experience and contemplation can…soften [our] unavoidable existential dilemma.”
— Jonathan Stevenson,
“A film of moving specificity and profound universality… An unforgettable experience.”
— Joshua Brunsting,
“A deeply moving, tautly poetic diary of multiple loss...Transcendent insight[s], folded into the film’s rich, rhythmic structure, stay with you long after the ending.”
— David Brody,
“Jenkins rescues…essential glimpses of dignity and compassion from the grips of death.”
— Ela Bittencourt,
ABOUT THE FILM
LONG SYNOPSIS
Weaving cinéma vérité family footage with breathtaking vignettes of nature unfolding, INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTING tells an elegiac story about transformation, grief, and the essential nature of the collective human journey. As Director Amy Jenkins welcomes her first child into the world, she also must negotiate the cancer diagnoses of her mother, sister, and brother, all of whom fall ill within the same year. Crafted from Jenkins’ video journals and narrated through archived answering machine messages, Jenkins, a visual artist, turns her camera to interrogate loss. Her vulnerability leads us to a bold and daring acceptance of our own mortality and a reverence for the fleeting beauty of life.
Producers Amy Jenkins, Mary Kerr
Editors Amy Jenkins, Bara Jichova Tyson
Consulting Editor Laure Sullivan
Sound Jim Dawson
Music Noah Hoffeld
FESTIVALS
2018: Doc Fortnight Festival, The Museum of Modern Art (World Premiere)
AWARDS
Best Documentary (Athens International Film + Video)
EXHIBITION FORMATS
DCP, Blu-Ray, DVD
PRESS KIT
Download Press Kit
AVAILABLE PRESS IMAGES (click to preview)
