Eli Hayes dead, cause of death, obituary, funeral plans: Filmmaker Eli Hayes died May 2020 of a possible suicide.
Eli Hayes had been struggling with depression.
A tweet from his close friend James Healey announced Eli Hayes death in a post on Twitter that read:
I just found out Eli Hayes has been found dead. We used to be close friends and I want to share some words and pictures. RIP brother.
https://twitter.com/BadHealey/status/1264572915275661314
Eli Grier Hayes was born on November 5th, 1993 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He fell in love with cinema at an early age upon viewing the works of directors such as James Benning and Chantal Akerman.
Eli began screenwriting as he entered high school, and directed his first short films, “Dancing with Shadows” and “Nobody,” during his senior year.
While enrolled at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York — where he received his bachelor’s degree in abnormal psychology, with a minor in creative writing — he founded Hazel Eye Productions.
Eli has since directed, produced & edited more than twenty feature films, and approximately forty short films. His work has been screened at over seventy festivals across six continents, including The Beijing International Short Film Festival, Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival, The Pune Short Film Festival, The Cannes International Film Festival’s Court Métrage, The Princeton Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival Melbourne, and The Milwaukee Short Film Festival, as well as venues such as Anthology Film Archives and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
In 2017, he graduated from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee with a master’s degree in film & creative media, and went on to become the Project Manager at The Nashville Film Institute.
Eli recently relocated back to his home city of Milwaukee, where he was working on several different projects, both short form and feature length. before his sudden death.
Touching tributes online described Eli Hayes as one of the most insightful writers on Letterboxd, a great filmmaker and just a genuinely great guy all around.
Please say a prayer for his family and friends as you read below.
The online film community lost a giant today. He touched so many lives, everyone knew Eli at least a tiny bit.
Many of us, including myself, haven’t seen his short films. Happy to have his Vimeo available to remember him.
Today is a very tragic day as we have lost a pillar of the online film community, Eli Hayes.
I’m pretty sure most of my friends on here I’ve met either through, or alongside Eli for going on 6 years now. I’ve discovered countless pieces of art through this man as well as watching him be an amazing director himself.
His enthusiasm towards every film, even the ones he didn’t like, goes to show just how true of a fan he really is.
Things won’t ever be the same, but his passion will live on forever. Thank you for everything Eli, we will all miss your terribly.
I wouldn’t claim I was close to Eli Hayes, but in my experience, he was one of the nicest, most genuine people out there.
One of the few people I’ve known to live their lives without a scrap of irony or cynicism, which I always admired and I wish I had told him. We’ll miss you.
I’ve been involved in facebook film communities for years and they’ve been very significant in developing my knowledge and interest in film. Through them I’ve met a lot of great people, including other filmmakers from around the world.
Today I woke up to hear of the passing of Eli Hayes. We’re not far in age and I’ve seen how he’s struggled recently. I know many of those feelings all to well, so this definitely hit me in a way I didn’t expect. He left behind a large body of experimental, ambient, and non-narrative films. Most of these he did solo, but he also collaborated with so many other artists. He also watched and loved what felt like every film ever, which is just something you don’t see much.
I’ve linked one of his films. If you go to his Vimeo channel, there’s a ton of beautiful films that really show what a unique voice we lost.
Saddened to hear about the premature passing of young cinephile and filmmaker Eli Hayes (1993-2020) whose life now seems like a dream lost, to paraphrase the title of his playfully hypnagogic 2017 film.
I didn’t know him well enough to write an eulogy, so I will share one of his boldest cinexperiments – a slow-moving avalanche of abstractions – instead. Rest in peace, Eli… 😔
Eli Hayes dead – cause of death, obituary, funeral arrangement:
Eli Hayes obituary is not available at this time. We will share updates when confirmed and released and as we learn more.
Our deepest condolences and sympathy during this difficult time.
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