Waar zit jouw JA?


Films, docufilms en allerlei korte filmpjes

Demystifying death, a palliative care specialists practical guide to lifes end
''Even people who are comfortable discussing death – including the inevitable prospect of their own – might understand little about how it actually tends to unfold unless they’ve experienced it firsthand alongside a loved one. In this brief animation, author Kathryn Mannix, who worked as a palliative care physician for 20 years, offers viewers a sensitive, honest and practical guide to how death tends to progress under normal, or perhaps ideal, circumstances. Pairing her narration with gentle, flowing animations, the UK filmmaker Emily Downe’s short makes a powerful case that there’s deep value in discussing and understanding death well before it touches us.''

* Trail of Light
Death walker - Only When We Recognise That We're Going To Die, That We Can Truly Start To Live
''This beautifully moving film features Aralyn Doiron, a delightful woman who has trained to be a Death Walker, someone who values a relationship with death and someone who values life. She suggests that it is only when we acknowledge that we are going to die one day, that we can truly start to live. The fact that many of us are separated from death is a disconnect from our humanity. She encourages having normal conversations about death, something we don't usually talk about, bringing death more into our lives in an enlivening way. Death teaches us about impermanence and about valuing what we have in the moment.'' 

Films:

Samsara;
''Samsara is een Sanskrietwoord dat verwijst naar de cyclus van geboorte, leven, dood en reïncarnatie. Dit idee verweeft regisseur Patiño in een magisch mooie verkenning van het leven na de dood. Een drieluik waarin werkelijk alle zintuigen geprikkeld worden en dat veel meer is dan alleen een prachtig plaatje.''
''Beginnend bij een boeddhistische tempel in het heuvelachtige noorden van Laos, volgen we de reis van een ziel voorbij de fysieke wereld. Eerst leren we de ziel kennen in het lichaam van een oude vrouw, die iedere dag het gezelschap krijgt van een jonge monnik die haar een boek voorleest over wat er gebeurt na de dood. Daar is niets morbide aan voor de boeddhisten, die het boek als leidraad gebruiken om het hiernamaals te bereiken. Wanneer de vrouw sterft, worden we uitgenodigd de ogen te sluiten en de zielsverhuizing met andere zintuigen waar te nemen. Vervolgens zien we de ziel weer in een heel andere gedaante, op een heel andere plek op Aarde. - Patiño bombardeert onze zintuigen met een betoverend verhaal dat vragen stelt over leven, dood, ziel en reïncarnatie en hij weet dat op een hoopgevende en indrukwekkende manier weer te geven. Samsara won vorig jaar de Speciale Juryprijs van de Encounters-competitie van het filmfestival van Berlijn.'' 
Trailer Samsara. 

* The blue caftan ; een fluweelzachte ode aan iedere vorm van liefde met subtiliteit en warmte.
''In een Marokkaanse medina wonen Halim en Mina kinderloos, maar tevreden samen. Ze delen hun liefde voor de kunst van de kaftan-makelij en voor elkaar. Alleen draagt Halim een geheim met zich mee dat naar de oppervlakte borrelt wanneer ze de goedhartige Youssef aannemen. Liefde neemt verschillende vormen aan in deze zachte ode aan echte connecties.''
Trailer The blue caftan

* Le Temps qui reste; ''De knappe Romain lijkt alles voor elkaar te hebben, maar dan blijkt hij nog maar enkele maanden te leven te hebben. In een wegrestaurant ontmoet hij een serveerster die hem een ongebruikelijk voorstel doet voor de tijd die hem nog resteert.''
Trailer Le temps qui reste

* Departures, the gift of last memories. 
'' Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.''
Departures is ook hier te bekijken. 
Trailer Departures.

* The Farewell; ''Wanneer de familie van Billi erachter komt dat hun geliefde grootmoeder terminale longkanker heeft, besluiten ze haar niet in te lichten. In plaats daarvan plannen ze een geïmproviseerde bruiloft in hun moederland China. Als Billi, tegen haar principes in, toch besluit om te gaan, komt ze in aanraking met het leven dat ze als 6-jarige gedwongen moest opgeven, met haar eigenzinnige grootmoeder en met de kracht van onuitgesproken liefde.''
Trailer The Farewell

* Corpse Bride; ''De jongeman Victor wordt weggevoerd naar de onderwereld om een mysterieuze Corpse Bride te trouwen, maar zijn échte bruid Victoria wacht in het Land van de Levenden op hem en niks kan hem van zijn enige echte liefde weg houden.'' 
Trailer Corpse Bride.

The last ectatic day; ''…courageous end-of-life chronicle, which overflows with compassion and shows us how to live mindfully while embracing curiosity about what lies beyond.'' Ook enkele korte fragmenten uit de film op youtube. 


The Tibetan Book of the Dead:
* The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Way of Life (deel 1)
* The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation (deel 2)
* The Tibetan Book of the Dead A Way of Life (1994) Narrated by Leonard Cohen


Docu-films en kortere filmpjes:

* Griefwalker; ''This documentary introduces us to Stephen Jenkinson, once the leader of a palliative care counselling team at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital. Through his daytime job, he has been at the deathbed of well over 1,000 people. What he sees over and over, he says, is "a wretched anxiety and an existential terror" even when there is no pain. Indicting the practice of palliative care itself, he has made it his life's mission to change the way we die - to turn the act of dying from denial and resistance into an essential part of life.'' 
Stephen Jenkinson - Griefwalker - Trailer 
''Grief is not a feeling. Grief is not how you feel. Grief is what you do. Grief is a skill.
And the twin of grief... as a skill of life... is the skill of being able to praise - or love - life.
Which means where ever you find one authentically done, the other is very close at hand.
Grief and the praise of life, side by side.
The honounerd guest at the head table.
And they're toasting you.
Grief and the ability to love life, they're clinking.
Clinking there glasses, and toasting the living.
So here is to your health!
Until the time comes, when we come to get you, live well!"

Zen & the Art of Dying documentary;
''From her origins as a young mother in the UK, to her present day identity as a lesbian, activist, and self-described deathwalker in the idyllic seaside town of Byron Bay, Australia, Zenith (Zen) Virago’s personal and professional experiences quietly challenge our core assumptions about life and dissolve our fears around death. The most sought-after marriage celebrant in an increasingly commercialized wedding destination town, Zenith is also co-founder of the Australian Natural Death Care Centre, an organization that provides end-of-life decision planning and DIY funeral alternatives to residents of Australia’s North Coast. Zenith's work models a grassroots international Natural Death Care Movement that is gaining momentum as Baby Boomers begin to retire and are demanding more personalized, empowered, and meaningful choices around end-of-life matters, just as they did with the natural childbirth movement. Her example, and the willingness of Byron Shire’s citizens to join her cause, invite each of us to reexamine and reclaim a more active role in how we live, love, and die.''  

* Life after Life; ''In Life After Life Raymond Moody investigates case studies of people who experienced clinical death and were subsequently revived. This classic exploration of life after death started a revolution in popular attitudes about the afterlife and established Dr. Moody as the world's leading authority in the field of near-death experiences.
The extraordinary stories presented here provide evidence that there is life after physical death, as Moody recounts the testimonies of those who have been to the other side and back - all bearing striking similarities of an overwhelming positive nature.
These moving and inspiring accounts give us a glimpse of the peace and unconditional love that await us all.''  

* Rethinking Death: Exploring What Happens When We Die ; ''The full recording of Parnia's Lab's premiere film, Rethinking Death: Exploring What Happens When We Die. In Rethinking Death, scientists, physicians, and survivors of cardiac arrest explore the liminal space between life, death and beyond, breaking down these stunning scientific breakthroughs to tell the remarkable, scientific story of what happens after we die.''

* Rethinking Mortality: Exploring the Intersection of Life and Death;  Dr. Sam Parnia in conversation with Steve Paulson. - The Morgan Library and Museum - February 7, 2024 - ''Scientific advances in the 21st century have led to major breakthroughs in the understanding of death. One in five survivors of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) who are revived back to life recall experiencing a heightened and transcendent state of consciousness that often follows a specific narrative arc. What can these remarkable experiences ultimately tell us about the nature of human consciousness?''

* ThanaDoula; ''Layering real-life details with an otherworldly magic, Thanadoula recounts the story of an end-of-life doula brought to her calling through the loss of her beloved sister.'' 

* Finding Something to Live and Die For | The Philosophy of Viktor Frankl;
''What keeps a human being going? The purest answer to this question is perhaps to be found in the worst of places. Austrian psychiatrist, philosopher, and author Viktor Frankl spent three years in four different concentration camps....
What’s left to live for in such a horrible place like a concentration camp? When they’ve taken all your liberties and possessions, and when death at short notice is almost inevitable, is there any reason not to give up on life? Viktor Frankl concluded that there’s always a reason to live even in the worst conditions: there’s always meaning in suffering. And if we can grasp this meaning - this star in the sky - we can overcome even the most painful circumstances....
According to Viktor Frankl, it’s not pleasure nor success and power that essentially drives people; it’s finding something - a purpose, a meaning - to live and even die for.''

* Verzoek om duo-euthanasie neemt toe - Uitgelicht met Elise van Hoek 

* Een slaaplied voor de dood; het sterven is begonnen - George Groot

* The Cost of Dying: End-of-Life Care; ''Many Americans spend their last days in an intensive care unit, subjected to uncomfortable machines or surgeries to prolong their lives at enormous cost.''
''We moeten erkennen dat we allemaal doodgaan. ''Get over it!'' Laten we kijken naar wat een gezonde, morele manier is om te sterven.'' 

* We all die, so why don’t we die well?
Modern medicine has a fundamental failure in its approach toward aging and dying, says Dr. Atul Gawande: “We don't recognize that people have priorities besides just living longer.” 

* Let's Visit the Human Composting Facility! ''For the DIE hard gardening enthusiast...''
Caitlin Doughty visit a human composting facility.  

* John O'Donohue at Greenbelt

* Why You Should NOT Fear Death;
''Memento mori: (Latin) remember you must die.
Regularly confronting the thought of our mortality is not a morbid act that we should run from. It is something we should embrace, fore it has the power to bring us to life.''

* Beyond Death | The Story of God with Morgan Freeman | National Geographic;
''Host Morgan Freeman explores how different religions of past and present answer the question: What happens when we die?''


En nog iets om af en toe bewust bij stil te staan:

"What beauty are YOU making with this precious life?"
* Morning Altars *Stop-Motion* Animated Short 


Meer films en filmpjes kan je vinden op de pagina's over rouwen en nabij de dood ervaringen.