With the average funeral cost exceeding $5000, many people go into debt just to provide basic after-death care and a service for their loved ones.

So in 2013, the community of Port Kembla responded by changing the face of the local death industry.

TENDER is the documentary made (with the assistance of the Adelaide Film Festival, ABC and the Australia Council for the Arts & Screen NSW) in 2013 tracking their journey.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the industrial seaside town of Port Kembla, a feisty and resilient community group take back the responsibility most of us leave to someone else – to care for their own dead. Scattered throughout are stories that cut to the core revealing why this small band took on a practice that, for most, remains taboo.

As their plans for community-based funerals gather momentum, one of their own is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. TENDER is at once a heartbreakingly beautiful and beautifully funny glimpse of an extraordinary community taking on one of the most essential challenges of human life; its end.

A HIVE FUND FILM

Written & Directed by Lynette Wallworth | Produced by Kath Shelper | 73 minutes
© 2013 Scarlett Pictures Pty Ltd, Lynette Wallworth and Adelaide Film Festival.
This screening will be followed by a Q & A with the Tender Canberra team. 

www.tenderfunerals.org

Please do not attend if you are unwell, have been in close contact with a known active case of COVID-19, or have been to a COVID affected area or travelled overseas in the previous 14 days.