Film Screening and Q&A: "Life of Abundance: A Film about Grief"

Join the Annenberg School for a screening of "Life of Abundance," a film born out of research by SAFELab.

After the screening, there will be a Q&A with the film's director Shawn Kornhauser, executive producer Professor Desmond Upton Patton (director of SAFELab), and producer Shana Kleiner (assistant director of SAFELab).

About the Film

Life of Abundance is a short film depicting the Black experience surrounding grief, loss, and community healing in Harlem, New York, born out of the research done at SAFELab led by Professor Desmond Upton Patton. Established at Columbia University's School of Social Work, SAFELab is a research initiative focused on examining the ways in which youth of color navigate violence on and offline, now affiliated with the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Social Policy and Practice at Penn.

The documentary follows a diverse group of Black Harlem residents who participated in a series of focus groups on grief hosted by SAFELab researchers from Columbia University.

The film juxtaposes the backdrop of Harlem residents sharing stories of grief and overcoming within the context of academics studying grief as a research topic. 

In light of COVID-19 and so many institutional losses since the start of the pandemic, Life of Abundance offers a complex and poetic snapshot where research and lived experience collide and how Black people make meaning of their own lives after experiencing the death of a loved one.