With the steady decline of black-owned funeral parlors on the horizon, the Lewis Funeral Home in San Antonio, Texas, is a beacon of community-based care for those who have passed on. Despite institutional microaggressions seen in the historical teaching of white embalming, celebrated mortician James Bryant, along with his staff and interns, attempts to uplift and celebrate African American communities amidst changing time and the challenges that come with segregated systems of valuing human life. More than a film about the lives of those we entrust with ours, The Passing On is a nuanced look at the complex racial dynamics in valuing human life after it has passed on. – Elizabeth Myles