Zen & the Art of Dying

Mar 15, 2015

1h 17m

★ 5.5

Reexamine and reclaim a more active role in how we live, love, and die.

Overview

Zenith Virago is an activist and educator who for over 20 years has been returning the coastal region of Byron Bay, Australia to a more communal, celebratory, and creative engagement with death and dying.

Genres

Documentary

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Cast

Herself

Zenith Virago

The work of Leiden professor Bastiaans on dealing with the trauma of war victims attracts the attention of filmmaker Louis van Gasteren. He decides to make a film about the psychotherapeutic treatment with LSD of a former concentration camp prisoner in the clinic of Bastiaans. Patient Joop is arrested in September 1941 and begins a long hellish journey through various camps, until he is liberated by the Russians. When he returns to his wife, he has become a completely different man. Joop suffers from nightmares and is incapable of normal human contact. With two cameras, Van Gasteren records approximately six and a half hours of the first treatment that Joop undergoes with Bastiaans (four more will follow later). Special attention is paid to details: Joop's hands, the sweat on his forehead, a tear running slowly down his cheek. Van Gasteren reduces the recordings to more than an hour.

6.0

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7.2

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0.0

Dief!

Jan 1, 1981

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3.5

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0.0

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0.0

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Jul 6, 1898

A depiction in the hanging of Edward Heinson, an assumed criminal assault convict in Jacksonville, Florida.

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0.0

How We Die

Invalid Date

Memento Mori is a morbidly beautiful journey into the world of alternative post mortem arrangements and an illuminating meditation on death, dying and our relationship with our bodies once they are no longer ours.

6.5

Marika's Passing

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0.0

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Between 1930 and 1945, Eastern Europe experienced mass violence on an unprecedented scale. Hitler and Stalin exploited the vast region for their respective expansionist plans. It is estimated that around 14 million civilians were murdered—primarily Jews, Poles, Balts, Belarusians, and Ukrainians.

9.5

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7.0

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Jon Richardson, one of Britain's most cautious men, is sent on a mission by his wife Lucy Beaumont, to investigate the things they are most scared about.

0.0

The Healing

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An inspiring journey of recovery from two very different worlds. Set against the stunning backdrop of Kangaroo Valley in NSW, a revolutionary program brings together traumatised ex-racehorses and traumatised military veterans - to help rebuild each other, and transform lives.

8.1

My Flesh and Blood

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My Flesh and Blood is a 2003 documentary film by Jonathan Karsh chronicling a year in the life of the Tom family. The Tom family is notable as the mother, Susan, adopted eleven children, most of whom had serious disabilities or diseases. The film itself is notable for handling the sensitive subject matter in an unsentimental way that is more uplifting than one might expect.

8.0

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Bay Area rapper Mac Dre began his career at 18 and quickly became an influential force in early west coast hip-hop. In 1992 he was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank robbery when his lyrics were used against him in court. He left prison with a new lease on life, founded an independent record company, and then was murdered just when he began to emerge as a star. For the first time ever, his mother Wanda reveals the true experiences of a hip-hop legend.

0.0

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Is it ever rational to choose death? On Independence Day at Stern Ranch, 77-year-old solar energy pioneer Bob Stern finds out he’s seriously ill – possibly dying. Meanwhile, an elderly in-law is dying on artificial life support. Bob decides to cheat that fate and take his own life. His family tries to stop him. Bob sets up a video camera. Daughter Susan Stern explores “rational suicide,” the “right-to-die” and the difficult end-of-life choices faced by an aging population.

7.1

Anything Can Happen

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A story of life and death, featuring Lozinski's six-year-old son Tomaszek and elderly people spending time on the benches of a Warsaw park. Riding his scooter, Tomaszek asks the elderly very adult, though basic, questions, which they are happy to answer. The boy's ideas of future and life are confronted with those of men at the end of their lives.

0.0

7 Vidas

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A community of cats lives in the Soledade Cemetery Park in Belém. "7 Vidas" follows these animals through a fictional letter written by one of them to his former owner. With real images of the cats among graves and trees, the film builds a sensitive narrative about abandonment, freedom and memory, revealing the poetry hidden in the coexistence between life and death.

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7.7

Dearly Departed

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7.0

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A feature-length documentary about The Smashing Pumpkins, which chronicles the band's residencies at The Orange Peel in Asheville and The Fillmore in San Francisco in summer 2007. The documentary covers Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan's attempts to write and debut new music at the residencies, as well as the revival of the band with new members.

Zen & the Art of Dying

Overview

Genres

Zen & the Art of Dying Trailers