Central Skagit Library District

Legendary Irish playwright Brendan Behan's insider's look at life on death row is a film "studded with gem-like performances" (Hollywood Reporter) that packs "a harsh Irish eloquence and a brutal dramatic punch" (New York Times).

From euthanizing a sick dog to slaughtering cows for food, how do we reconcile our feelings about killing when it comes to the non-human animals around us? Ponder the moral and spiritual dimensions of the death of other animals--and what that might reveal about our views of our own mortality.

At Saint Boniface General Hospital in Manitoba two women pass each other in the corridors. Gisèle Fontaine hurries to help women in childbirth, while Louise Saurette attends the dying. Birth and death, moments of transition that involve a transformative journey, have much in common. The midwife and the chaplain offer themselves as guides on the painful and essential path of abandonment. With delicacy and restraint this film reveals the essence of...

An expecting couple, Leah (Gaby Hoffmann - Emmy nominee: GIRLS & TRANSPARENT) and June (Ingrid Jungermann), move into a Brooklyn brownstone apartment with their toddler daughter, Lyle. Despite the strange baby-obsessed landlady downstairs and the group of female models who live above them, the two are happy with their new apartment until a bizarre accident leads to the death of Lyle. Months later, Leah is still grief-stricken, trying to make sense...

One of the undisputed masterpieces of the cinema, no single viewing of Earth will ever reveal all of its poetic brilliance. An old farmer dies, his grandson has a new vision to bring prosperity to his poor Ukraine village.

The number of infants who die before their first birthday is much higher in the U.S. than in other countries. And for African Americans the rate is nearly twice as high as for white Americans. Even well-educated black women have birth outcomes worse than white women who haven't finished high school. Why? We meet Kim Anderson, a successful Atlanta lawyer, executive and mother. When Kim was pregnant with her first child in 1990, she, like so many others,...

Liberty explores the deep connections in a circle of lesbian friends as they face death and celebrate life and love. Viewers say Liberty has documented the meaning of community with rare grace and wit. It is not a wimpy, weepy tale by a mile, but a keen celebration of family values. Liberty demystifies death, dispels misinformation about age and sexual orientation, and reminds us how rich life is, even in the shadow of death. Part One: Death to Life...

Sky Burial follows the ritual of "jha-tor", the giving of alms to birds in a northern Tibetan monastery - where the bodies of the dead are offered to the vultures as a final act of kindness to living beings. At the Drigung Monastery lamas chant to call the consciousness from the body. Juniper incense is burned to summon the vultures. Special body breakers, or "rogyapas", unwrap the bodies and cut away the flesh. The bones are crushed and mixed with...

While waiting on death row, Jang Jin (Chen Chang) tries to commit suicide in the most bizarre way, using a sharpened toothbrush handle as his main tool. The details of his desperate attempt reach Yeon, a young female sculptor who doesn't know the inmate personally, but feels compelled to seek him out after discovering her husband's betrayal with another woman. A peculiar connection begins to grow between Jang Jin, who has become unable to speak, and...

High in the majestic Andes of Peru, silent but deadly traces of mercury, remnants of long-ago silver mining, bring illness and death to a local village. Seeking retribution, the villagers mistakenly attribute the outbreak to Western doctors who work in the nearby mountains; violence ensues, and a doctor is killed. Altiplano is the story of two women: Saturnina, the fiancé of a villager killed by mercury poisoning; and Grace, a shellshocked war photographer...