Far from home, afraid of the dark, and terrified of ghosts, 16 year old Ying Ling is training to become a mortician in one of China’s largest funeral homes. She learns to perform spa and beauty treatments for the dead, speaking to them softly, watched by their family members. Against this backdrop, she forms a special friendship with a fellow mortician Jin Hau and they share the strangeness of working with the dead together.

Almost Heaven is a reflection on death and the fragility of life but also a reflection what it is like to be young and alive; a tender elegy to friendship and caring for the dead.

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