Gates of Heaven

Errol Morris burst out of the gate with this brilliant debut feature, about two pet cemeteries in Northern California and the people involved with them. When the San Francisco location is forced to shut down, the remains of the 450 animals buried there are moved to neighbouring Napa. This seemingly inconsequential development gave rise to Morris’ stunning debut, the captivating, funny, and enigmatic “Gates of Heaven”, a film that is about our relationships to our pets, each other, and ourselves. The filmmaker documents a series of confessional interviews by pet owners that talk about their dearly departed, treading the fine line between outright satire and utter respect to his eccentric subjects. Whatever way you choose to interpret it, this is an endlessly surprising study of human nature, love, loss and the funeral industry.