an open field , a 38-minute short film from director Teboho Edkins and his father and producer Don Edkins, which will world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam ( IDFA ) on Sunday, is very personal.

In March 2019, a Boeing 737 MAX airplane crashed just six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All 157 people on board died, including Max Thabiso Edkins, the director’s younger brother.

So, he and his father decided to travel together to the crash site “to seek something tangible in their grief,” as a synopsis for an open field notes. “What they find is a community in which mourning is an important part of the culture. Just as for the Edkins family, the lives of the villagers have also been turned upside down by the crash. In a deeply m

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