Death Education

Death is an inevitable cinematic topic, perhaps even the topic of cinema. But for all of the trepidation in the face of fate, grim reapers, and on-screen demises, very seldom is the process of death – especially of the non-violent sort – considered a subject in its own right. Death instead intrudes on topics like revenge, war, and love as a plot resolution or obstacle to overcome. Challenging this hesitancy, a 15-minute documentary short from China called Death Education braves the subject material experientially and with an unpretentious philosophical attentiveness. Not even the material process of exhuming ashes escapes director Yuxuan Ethan Wu who sits patiently with a topic most filmmakers run from or disguise with ornamental excess.

Showing as part of the Documentary Short Film Program at Sundance, the short follows a high school class that lays to rest unclaimed ashes on the traditional Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day. The teacher introduces his students to death, that monster that comes for all, not through literature, religion, or science but by experiencing it firsthand...

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