About the film.

Buttress is a short film that highlights the grief-stricken and subtly funny moments that happen during the chaotic time leading up to a funeral.

We follow the often-untold story of grief from the point of view of the helper. After losing her grandmother, our subject leaps into the role of support as she navigates the long list of to-do’s that arise between death and the funeral. She throws herself in full support of her mother who, after all, just lost her mother unexpectedly. 

Though, having lost someone herself, our young woman finds no reprieve from the chaos of putting together a funeral to grieve herself. With every possible burden being thrust upon her she keeps trudging on and is pushed to the edge of her sanity.  

We often forget about these “helpers” in the story of loss. They are the shit takers, the errand runners, the god-bless-her-heart tolerators of nonsense, buffoonery, and ignorance.  All to help the ones they love to get through the unbearable burden of loss.   

When we tell comedic stories focusing on loss, it’s often an attempt to laugh so that we keep from crying. This story is exactly that. We can laugh at the chaos and the irony behind the characters that we meet on this journey but at the end of the day, we’re just trying to survive. And laughter is an excellent way to do that.

This story is charming, funny, frustrating, and heartfelt.