If you had to do it all over again, would you do things differently? Do you have a lot of time left? Will you be remembered after you’re gone? These seemingly dark, unanswerable questions that people tend to avoid are the fundamental queries behind death literacy that Caren Martineau is tackling with the Dying to Know Film Festival, August 11-27 at the Rosendale Theater and the Greenville Drive-In.
Death literacy is a niche subject, not explored by many due to the stigmas and taboo surrounding mortality, but it’s something that Martineau believes we all need. “Literacy is an important commodity,” she says. “We promote it in all other forms, and death literacy needs to be a critical and expected form of communication.” Through her film festival, Martineau has been able to convene groups that want to speak about mortality in an open setting.
Martineau started the Dying to Know film festival, a death literacy awareness campaign, in 2017 after realizing—as a Boomer—that the end is something we all need to talk about. At its inception, she was struck with the difficulty of the situation. “It has been a slow learning curve,” says Martineau. “How do you speak about something so sensitive? The people around me urged me not to go there, but I felt compelled to do it no matter what.” So she started the film festival, selling out her first screening.
Then the pandemic hit, making us all more aware of our mortality. Martineau was able to see the shift, noticing that people were beginning to understand their own impermanence, and figured they would be ready to talk—and they were. Zoom performances of one-act plays followed by breakout sessions to discuss topics surrounding death reached over 100 participants, showing the public readiness to speak on the topic. Now, in the project’s fifth year, the festival and post-film Q&As will take place throughout August.
The festival is host to a variety of different productions, from documentaries and animated shorts to feature films. Each screening is followed by a group Q&A with topic experts, doctors, and psychologists, providing attendees with an open space to talk about mortality. Some guest speakers include Helen Whitney, Oscar-nominated filmmaker; Christine Herbes-Sommers, cofounder of Vital Pictures; and Matthew Kochmann, technology entrepreneur and founder of Transcend, a nature and death awareness campaign.
There will be three sets of performances, all taking place this August, as part of the Celebrating Aging Series Production. Opening weekend, August 11 to 13, will contain eight screenings and be cohosted by noted gerontologist Mario Garrett. Some opening weekend films include Defining Hope, a nurse-perspective documentary exploring the necessity of hope in healthcare settings, especially regarding end-of-life care. Plan 75 is a dystopian film following three individuals deciding whether or not to accept a planned death for money. Last Flight Home is an intimate documentary following the filmmaker’s father in his last weeks, exiting on his own terms.
On the weekend of August 18, there will be a showing of classics at the Greenville Drive-In. Up, Harold & Maude, and Departures are on the docket for this weekend, exploring death with films that people know and love. The festival will be returning to the Rosendale Theatre on August 26 and 27 to discuss time, legacy, cultures, and rituals with a screening of Two Gods, a poignant documentary following a Muslim funeral director and offering a glimpse into Muslim burial practices and the struggles of urban youth.
The Dying to Know Film Festival is not meant to focus on death; the point is to focus on death literacy, conversations, and increased awareness behind mortality. Since starting the program, Martineau has felt some of the relief herself. “Once you air this out and put it on the table, life gets so much brighter,” she says. “You learn to truly appreciate moments and not sweat the small stuff, gaining more compassion that you may not have had before.”
This article appears in August 2023.
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