A exploration of grief and absence, this short documentary by filmmaker Ben Grace weaves together archival family home movies with newly shot 16mm footage to reflect on the aftermath of death and the spaces left behind.
Film becomes both a record and a reminder of time passing; the materiality of 16mm, with its imperfections, grain and fleeting images, felt particularly appropriate for a film concerned with memory and loss.
Rather than trying to offer an explanation for grief, The Bones of You is an attempt to sit inside it — to consider how the dead continue to occupy the lives, memories and physical spaces of those left behind.
The Bones of You is currently on the festival circuit and will be released online in 2027.
Directors Statement
The Bones of You is my attempt to explore what remains when the people you love are no longer there.
I wanted to examine grief through the empty spaces, familiar objects and fragments of everyday life that suddenly carry a new weight.
My film interlaces archival family home movies and audio with newly shot 16mm footage shot in the immediate aftermath of my grandparents passing.
I was interested in the tension between what the camera managed to preserve against what it could never capture.