On Wednesday, Sept. 24, Town Hall Theater will screen the award-winning documentary “From Earth to Earth: The Lost Art of Dying in America.”

This 20-minute documentary describes natural burial and its benefits through stories from the people who worked to make it legal in Vermont. It also discusses natural burial’s environmental benefits, the comfort this ritual provides to loved ones struggling with grief, and the ways in can help us contemplate our own mortality. 

The film includes scenes from the Vermont Forest Cemetery, the first and still only cemetery devoted to natural burial in Vermont, and from Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve outside of Ithaca, NY.

The documentary, which won a number of awards in the U.S. and Europe, including a Webby Award for Best Short Form Documentary Film, will be followed by a Q&A session led by Jim Hogle, the President and Communications and Outreach Coordinator of the Vermont Forest Cemetery, and by Michelle Acciavatti, Founder of the Vermont Forest Cemetery.

The Vermont Forest Cemetery, founded in October of 2023, is sited on 56 acres of mixed hardwood forest in the Green Mountains above Roxbury, Vermont. The cemetery encourages families and friends to participate directly in the burial process, if they wish, allowing them to perform a final act of love for their loved one that helps deal with the grief of loss and with saying goodbye. 

 It seeks to honor and preserve the stories of the people who are buried there, and to create a space where people can create art, engage in learning and research about natural burial and the forest itself. It also helps conserve and restore the forest, and allows visitors to come and walk the trails to observe the birds and animals who live there and learn about its plants and geology.

Tickets for this screening and discussion range from $5-$17 and are available via townhalltheater.org. Patrons may also buy tickets in person at the THT box office from Monday-Friday from noon to 5 p.m., or via phone at 802-382-9222.