This feature documentary by Maartje Nevejan dives into the deep waters of grief—not only personal, but ecological, colonial, and spiritual. Sparked by the loss of her partner and the grief of her children in the face of ecological collapse, Nevejan resists centering her own story. Instead, she opens a space for something larger: a cinematic ritual that gathers four remarkable women—grief doulas, ritualists, spiritual disruptors—who guide others not toward closure, but transformation.

In collaboration with visionary ecologist Dr. Monica Gagliano and Zen priest and grief pioneer Roshi Joan Halifax, Just Our Heart expands the mourning room. It invites voices that are usually silenced: the dead, the exploited, the Earth herself. 

This is a film that doesn’t offer answers—it invites participation in something older than language: ritual as a way of relating to loss, and as a method of resistance. 

Just Our Heart refuses the neat aesthetics of healing as an endpoint. It challenges us to ask: What if our hearts are not broken, but breaking open? And what happens when, in that rupture, we do not turn away—but stay?

The film zooms out as we witness the grief from children to adults, to mother earth herself. In these troubling times, without mentioning the specifics, Just Our Heart is call to stay with the wound, crack open a little more, and open our hearts to all of it.

THE FILM INTRODUCES US TO:

Psychologist Dr. Débora González explores how the age-old ritual and medicine of Ayahuasca can guide individuals suffering from complex grief through their deepest sorrows, reconnecting them with the natural world and their ancestral roots. She has designed the first scientific study in mental health history to investigate the psychological dynamics of grief and the potential of Ayahuasca in the healing process. In Just Our Heart, several study participants are followed from their first ceremony in Spain to the unveiling of the study’s groundbreaking results at a scientific conference in the Netherlands.

Roshi Joan Halifax, a Zen Abbot, ecologist, hospice caregiver, anthropologist, and acclaimed author on the topics of death and dying, offers precise and wise insights drawn from her 60+ years of experience with the dying. As a socially engaged Buddhist, Roshi Joan has conducted extensive work with the dying through her Project on Being with Dying. This project provides training programs for healthcare professionals, caregivers, and family members since 1994 on how to care for the dying and manage their own grieving processes. She is also a board member of the Mind and Life Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the relationship between science and Buddhism.

Barbara Raes, one of the three artistic directors of City Theatre NTGent in Belgium, is also a theatre therapist and playwright specializing in creating rituals. She developed a grief counseling ritual for children under 12 who have lost a primary caregiver. In Just Our Heart, the focus is on two sisters, aged 7 and 10, who lost both their parents in a car accident in Belgium. Barbara uses play, art, and symbolism to transform their pain into a celebration of life and community.

Bolivian-born mestiza Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, a musician and artist living in the Netherlands, recounts the story of Cerro Rico, a Bolivian mountain exploited by Spanish conquerors for its silver, resulting in the enslavement of the local Inca who worshipped the mountain as a spirit. This tragedy birthed a new kind of people, part indigenous and part descendants of colonial powers. In Just Our Heart, Ibelisse courageously grieves both the colonized and the colonizer within her. Guided by Bolivian sociologist, historian, theorist, and activist Dr. Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, Ibelisse creates a grief ritual symbolizing two crucial types of loss: ecological and indigenous culture due to colonial exploitation.

Dr. Monica Gagliano, an environmental activist and ecologist, discusses how she believes communities can process their grief related to environmental destruction caused by colonialism, transforming despair into collective forgiveness. She shares her personal journey of years spent becoming a scientist until she felt compelled to leave academia two years ago due to its materialistic nature. Gagliano leaves behind a legacy of innovative research and a call for change within the scientific community. Her journey serves as a reminder that true progress often requires us to challenge established norms and explore beyond the boundaries of conventional thought. As Nevejan’s lens captures their work, the documentary delves deep into the inner experiences of grief, unveiling the raw, transformative power of rituals.

This powerful documentary shows that grief, when given the just attention, honored and ritualized, becomes more than a period of deep sorrow – it transforms into a profound journey of deepening love, self-discovery, healing, and ultimately, transformation.