At a glance

Of course, The New York Times printed obituaries for Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan and Michael Jackson.

But Lawrence Herkimer (known as “the grandfather of modern cheerleading”), Betty James (who named the Slinky toy) and Marie Tharp (an underwater cartographer) also merited obits in The Times.

“The one thing all the subjects have in common, besides being dead, is that their lives had an impact of one sort or another,” William Grimes, an obituary writer for The Times, says in the documentary “Obit.”

“The word is infinitely elastic.”

The movie, which includes interviews with current and former obituary writers for The Times, will be screened on Friday and Saturday at the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Director Vanessa Gould decided to make the movie after the death of Eric Joisel, Saturday

$8, or $6 for members, students and senior citizens a French origami artist who was the subject of Gould’s 2008 movie “Between the Folds.” She sent information about Joisel’s life to several newspapers in hopes of having an obituary printed.

She heard back only from the Times.

“I was stunned that they chose to run it at all, given that he was an unknown artist and not an American,” said Gould, 43, of New York City.

Gould, who was contacted by Times senior obituary writer Margalit Fox, became the primary source for the story. Gould knew the details of his later life, but information about his younger years wasn’t available.

“I felt like I was watching history slip through our fingers,” Gould said.

After tracking down the details of Joisel’s life, Gould became a dedicated reader of The Times’ obituaries.

“I realized it was a catalog of history, almost a cultural anthropology at work, on a newspaper obit page,” she said. “Each story was as fascinating as the next, and, as a documentary filmmaker, that’s the sort of thing that jumps out at you.”

Gould said the writers share a common trait: “They have a certain quality of humanity about them that allows them to quietly and sensitively and consistently shine a light in a way that does somebody justice.”

First, though, they are reporters who have just a few hours to craft an 800-word essay summarizing the life of a person they don’t know.

And even though the reporters check and doublecheck facts for accuracy, mistakes happen — and those errors haunt them.

“This (stuff) drives me nuts, and it keeps me awake at night,” says Times obit writer Bruce Weber, who has left the paper since the movie was filmed.

Although The Times keeps a backlog of advance obituaries, preparations can’t be made for some deaths. In fact, a perfect storm played out with the death of Jackson, a middle-aged man planning a creative comeback whose sudden death was announced late in the afternoon.

“You’re talking about a window of time of four hours to write the entire story of Michael Jackson — in four hours, starting from zero,” obituaries editor William McDonald says in the movie.

The writers say the job is far from depressing.

“Obits have next to nothing to do with death,” Fox says, “and, in fact, absolutely everything to do with the life.”

“Obit.” Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St. 614-292-3535, www.wexarts.org 7 p.m. Friday and