Despite its setting in 1870s Wisconsin, Dara Van Dusen’s feature debut, “A Prayer for the Dying,” is an eerily timely story touching on deadly epidemics and wildfires. The film bows in Berlin’s Perspectives section.

“I’ve been working on this film for over a decade and it’s based on a book [by Stewart O’Nan] published in 1999. Then the pandemic happened. I was stuck at home with a 2-year-old and my husband, and suddenly everything felt just too real,” she recalls.

As time went by, she managed to process her emotions — only for the California wildfires to dominate the headlines during post-production. Now, in a town called Friendship, its sheriff and preacher Jacob Hansen (Johnny Flynn), and Doc (John C. Reilly), must confront both.