Sunflowers

SUNFLOWERS unfolds in a Jewish cemetery. A ghost, attracted by a patch of sunflowers, returns to the world of the living.

Born in Brooklyn in 1941, Richard Raskin studied French literature at Dartmouth College (B.A.) and Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D.). After teaching at Howard, Haverford and Columbia, he moved to Denmark with his wife and two children in 1972, which is where they have been living happily ever after. Raskin is presently an associate professor at the Department of Information and Media Science at Aarhus University, where he teaches video production and edits p.o.v. - A Danish Journal of Film Studies. In 1983, he earned a Danish doctorate and has subsequently written a number of books on film, art and humor, including a study of Alain Resnais's documentary classic, "Night and Fog," and a book entitled Life Is Like a Glass of Tea - Studies of Classic Jewish Jokes (1992). His articles have appeared in such journals as Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, Film History, Judaism, Folklore, and American Jewish History. Five of his short films have been shown on Danish TV and his paintings - primarily on Jewish themes - have been included in a number of official exhibitions.