Chronicles of a Professional Eulogist

Narrated by a eulogist-in-training, Lapp’s film portrays the late, great Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf musings on the burden of his profession. This is a six-minute excerpt from a 26-minute, hand-drawn animation (India ink, gouache, and wax), created in collaboration with Mark Dresser. It uses the imagined figure of the professional eulogist to explore the function of memory, place, and social nostalgia in our religious imaginations.

Sarah Jane Lapp is a film and visual artist whose experimental, non-fiction films and hand-drawn animations often connect labor, comic personae and the religious imagination. Her work can be viewed at www.cinemagoat.com. Our thanks to Seventh Art Releasing for use of this clip at our site.