“I am so grateful for the existence of this powerful and unflinching chronicle.
She wanted her death to be a work of art, and so it is.”
ABOUT
‘Here I Am’ captures best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert and her lover, the Syrian-American musician Rayya Elias through an extraordinary year of love, loss, and search for meaning - offering a powerful meditation on human connection, legacy, and facing mortality on one’s own terms.
DIRECTOR’S STORY
I first met Rayya Elias backstage in San Francisco, where I was speaking at the Dreamforce Conference, while launching my last film, Walk With Me. Amidst the post-screening buzz, I noticed a striking woman leaning against the wall, eyes locked onto me—not with admiration, but curiosity.
“Hey! I’m Rayya,” she said, stepping forward. “So…what are you doing next?”
There was a spark in her—something raw, magnetic, and alive with mischief. I smiled and said, “I’m looking for people who are dying… to tell a story about what it means to live.”
She didn’t flinch. “Well, dude,” she said matter-of-factly, “I’m dying of terminal cancer. Film me.”
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FILM STILLS
Featured
I first met Rayya Elias backstage in San Francisco, where I was speaking at the Dreamforce Conference, while launching my last film, Walk With Me. Amidst the post-screening buzz, I noticed a striking woman leaning against the wall, eyes locked onto me—not with admiration, but curiosity.