To Dust
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- Jason Begue
- Shawn Snyder
- Emily Mortimer
- Alessandro Nivola
- Josh Crook
- Ron Perlman
- Scott Lochmus
| To Dust | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Shawn Snyder |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Xavi Giménez |
| Edited by | Allyson C. Johnson |
| Music by | Ariel Marx |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Good Deed Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 92 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $184,495[2] |
To Dust is a 2018 American comedy-drama film directed by Shawn Snyder (in his feature directorial debut), who co-wrote the screenplay with Jason Begue. It stars Géza Röhrig and Matthew Broderick, with Janet Sarno, Ben Hammer, Leo Heller, Sammy Voit, and Marceline Hugot in supporting roles. It follows a Hasidic cantor who, distraught by the untimely death of his wife, struggles to find religious solace.
The film had its world premiere at the 17th Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2018, where it won the Narrative Audience Award and Best New Narrative Director (for Snyder). It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on February 8, 2019, by Good Deed Entertainment. It received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for Best Screenplay (for Begue and Snyder) at the 35th Independent Spirit Awards.
American Hasidic Jew, Shmuel, loses his beloved wife, Rivka, to cancer. Now he lives with his mother, two sons, and a terrible longing. While his mother advises Shmuel to "move on" and marry again, the children think that a dibbuk, the spirit of Rivka, has moved into their father. Longing and excitement drive Shmuel to look for answers to unexpected questions. What worries him most is the thought of what happens to his beloved wife's body after burial and how quickly she turns to dust. To find answers and religious solace, Shmuel initially approaches a rabbi, but then forms an unlikely partnership with a professor of biology.
Cast
- Géza Röhrig as Shmuel
- Matthew Broderick as Albert
- Leo Heller as Noam
- Sammy Voit as Naftali
- Janet Sarno as Faigy
- Stephanie Kurtzuba as Receptionist
- Ben Hammer as Rebbe
- Larry Owens as Stanley
- Bern Cohen as Reb Goshen
- Aaron Raksin as Sender
- Jill Marie Lawrence as Judy
- Joseph Siprut as Undertaker
- Zalman Raksin as Brother-in-Law
- Sarah Jes Austell as Receptionist Pam
- Natalie Carter as Stella the Security Guard
- Marceline Hugot as Carol
- Ziv Zaifman as Moshe
- Isabelle Phillips as Shprintzel
- Leanne Watson as Rivkah
Production
In 2015, the Tisch School of the Arts' $100,000 Sloan First Feature Film Prize was awarded to graduate student Shawn Snyder to produce his screenplay, To Dust.[3] Snyder himself called the film a dark comedy,[4] and talked about how his Reform Judaism background informed the story:
I have an ongoing journey with my Judaism that waxes and wanes. As a spiritual seeker myself, the movie is about how to find our own personal meanings and build our own rituals around it. That lifelong and continuing journey is largely what the film is about, our right to grieve, to find meaning in that loss, and to have conversations with the cultures we come from.[5]
To Dust was produced by Ron Perlman and Josh Crook's Wing and a Prayer Pictures, Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola's King Bee Productions, and Scott Floyd Lochmus.[6] The original music was composed by Ariel Marx.[7]
Release
To Dust had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2018.[8] In June 2018, Good Deed Entertainment acquired U.S distribution rights to the film.[6] It was then released in select theaters on February 8, 2019.[9]
