Facing Death…With Open Eyes Part of the Series: Secrets of Life and Death Series
Dr Michelle Peticolas
Stunned by the loss of both her parents and by the lack of cultural dialogue, the filmmaker turns the camera on herself and four wise souls to explore the personal and spiritual possibilities of facing death with open eyes.
People in the film:
Robin Inman: Newly divorced, ready to set the world on fire in her forties, she is struck out-of-the-blue by a rare and incurable disease that can kill her at any time.
Tighe Foley: Young, beautiful and living in the Castro, he tests positive for the Virus. He tries the new drugs, the new therapies, the new Yoga positions, but after eight years, he's had enough.
Rick Fields: Author of several books on Zen Buddhism and editor of Yoga Journal, he has his spiritual practice put to the test when he is diagnosed with lung cancer.
Ram Dass: An accomplished public speaker, author and modern pioneer of conscious dying, he finds his life drastically changed when a stroke damages the speech center of his brain and leaves him partially paralyzed.
Running Time
27 mins
Year
2009
Kanopy ID
1093974
Filmmakers
Languages
Subjects
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Comments (1)
Originally trained as a sociologist, I wrote my doctoral thesis about the mental adjustments people make when facing drastic life changes. Producing the film series, Secrets of Life and Death has taken me deeper into this exploration with its spotlight on death, the ultimate life change. My ...Read more
Originally trained as a sociologist, I wrote my doctoral thesis about the mental adjustments people make when facing drastic life changes. Producing the film series, Secrets of Life and Death has taken me deeper into this exploration with its spotlight on death, the ultimate life change. My vision for this film series, however, is far more than a scholarly exercise. It is about providing people with both the opportunity and courage to explore a subject that is usually feared and avoided.
Read lessThe impetus for this film project arose from my own personal experience with the deaths of my parents, barely six months apart. I was stunned by the immensity of these two events and by my own lack of knowledge and preparation. I made a lot of mistakes and missed many important moments due to my ignorance. I blamed it on a death-phobic culture, my parents’ upbringing and my own lack of experience. Making films was my way of coming to terms with the deaths or my parents while changing the way we all deal with death.
I interviewed people who were open to the more spiritual sides of dying. I wanted to understand the gifts death provides to those willing to face it openly. Inevitably, I was exposed to death in all its aspects, the nitty-gritty of a failing body along with the mystery of the ineffable. These two sides of death, the sacred and the profane, ended up taking my films and me to a deeper and truer vision of the process of dying and its meaning for life.
My mission is to open people up to the extraordinary opportunity of this experience we call death. It is a once-in-a-lifetime event offering once-in-a-lifetime chances to learn about one's self and existence. Enter into the films and you get an infusion of what it is like to face death with open eyes and what it's like when you don't. Multi-layered with stories within stories, the films take you on a journey through loss, missed moments, regret, and ultimately redemption.