Dating back to her childhood in Greece, first-time director Janis Rafa has spent the better part of her life contemplating death. The title of her feature-length debut, “Kala Azar,” takes its name from the parasitic disease that swept through the country in the 1990s, ravaging the animal population. In Rafa’s childhood home, which included both domesticated animals and strays the family had taken in, her father served as an erstwhile gravedigger, burying pets that had been claimed by the disease, or accidents, or natural causes.

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