Earth and Ashes

When his father Omar, a French architect of Moroccan origin, dies suddenly, 25-year-old Neil finds himself at the center of a family conflict. Neil’s mother, Omar's wife of 25 years, wants to cremate him in order to honor their shared secular values. But Omar's family—his mother, brother, and sister, who have come from the south of France—demand a burial according to Islamic rites. Caught between two conflicting accounts of the man who was his father, Neil is torn. As the funeral stalls, lies accumulate, and the conflict culminates in court, Neil tries to understand who his father was. Earth and Ashes explores grief disrupted by identity tensions in a society that fuels division.