A grieving mother visiting the grave of her deceased son was infuriated to find that a movie night was being held at the cemetery near to his resting place. Leyla Durmus’s 21-year-old son Kaya died in 2016 from an opioid overdose and she visits his grave at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Arlington Heights, Illinois every day. However, seeing that a social event could be held in such a sacred place was extremely upsetting to her.
- Leyla noticed a flyer for the event during one of her visits. One afternoon, Leyla was visiting Kaya’s grave when she noticed a flyer for a screening of Raiders of the Lost Arc on the following Saturday night on cemetery grounds.
- The event wasn’t actually held where the gravestones were. Instead, the screening was to be held in an open field away from the headstones but in full view of them. This means that if someone was at the cemetery paying their respects to their lost loved ones, they would see the Indiana Jones screening going on nearby.
- Leyla believes the screening was “disgusting.” The idea that anyone could think it’s a good idea to hold a fun event like a movie screening at such a serious place was something Leyla found “very disrespectful to me as a grieving mother.” She added: “Why, of all places, would a movie screening be held at a cemetery?”
- The event is meant to “foster a sense of community.” At least according to the event’s organizers at Memory Gardens. They hope the screening would “serve as a gathering place” but Leyla isn’t convinced. She thinks the event never should have happened and hopes they’ll recondsider ever doing something like this again.
