GRIEF STICK | SHORT DOCUMENTARY

about: After 30 years separated by time and circumstance, writer Alex Behr is reunited with lost love Chris Hartman. Soon after reconnecting, Chris becomes ill with an accelerated, fatal disease. Grief Stick explores the contours of love and death, using photographs, voicemails, and video to show the before/during/after of Chris’s illness and how it impacts them both.

director’s statement: When I heard Portland writer Alex Behr was looking for an editor for the film project she was producing about the illness that destroyed her partner Chris, I immediately offered to help. I didn't know Chris at all and Alex only socially, but the themes of sickness, body betrayal, and the sudden perspective shift due to catastrophic transformative news resonated with me - I am a brain tumor survivor, and once you get the rug pulled out from under you, you forever manage living in that space. I knew I could tune to the right frequency and not be daunted, but working on this film was still challenging for me and many days I had to give myself strict time-limits lest I be overwhelmed by the content. Alex provided me with a ton of material - video she shot, video Chris shot, voicemails, recorded poems, endless photos - so the challenge here was finding an engaging manner to shape it in a way that was true to the experience and to the poetry of the experience at once. Over the course of the project I came to know Alex better and Chris posthumously. Grief Stick was a very stirring project for me and I hope it will be for you as well.

upcoming screenings: Friday November 7 at Up Up Books as part of the Portland Book Festival. Film will be shown at a reading with 3 poets titled Conversing with the Dead. More details here.

Sunday November 17 at Portland State University. info to come

past screenings: Feb 20, 2025 Tomorrow Theater, Jan 2025 Oregon Documentary Film Fest, Jan 2025, Sunday October 19, 2025 Turn! Turn! Turn! .

made possible by: project grant from the Regional Arts + Culture Council

learn more: griefstick.com

a dogwood ink & northern flicker films co-production | produced by Alex Behr | edited & directed by Brian Padian