All Illusions Must Be Broken
A film by Laura Dunn and Jef Sewell
In 1973, months before his death, the cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker sat for a final interview with Sam Keen. The Denial of Death won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. All Illusions Must Be Broken is a cinematic contemporization of that conversation: Becker's account of human nature and his own testimony, set against the world his ideas predicted.
Documentary88 minutes · 2024
Based on the work of Ernest BeckerThe Denial of Death, 1973
World premierePalm Springs International Film Festival, 2024
StreamingLong Play, LP 001 · Early 2027 · Rent or buy
ProductionTwo Birds Film, in association with Alder Tree Studios
Screenings and licensingcontact@aldertree.com
From the film
Chapter cardsCREATURE
CULTURE
PLUGGING IN
ENEMY
Press
The denial of deathThe Gray Area with Sean Illing, Vox · Jef Sewell on Becker, fifty years on · March 4, 2024 · 42 min
'All Illusions Must Be Broken' Doc Probes Mankind's Capacity for ViolenceVariety · Palm Springs International Film Festival · January 2024 · [Byline]
[Headline]The New York Times Book Review · December 28, 2023 · [Byline]
Credits
Directed byLaura Dunn, Jef Sewell
ProducersLaura Dunn, Jef Sewell, Owsley Brown
Executive producers[Per Two Birds agreement]
EditorLaura Dunn
MusicKaty Jarzebowski
SoundPete Horner and Skywalker Sound