SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! As parents and even as a society, we are tempted to hide certain negative aspects of life and living from our children. To some, exposing them to the more difficult aspects of life will make them stronger or at least more aware. Yuxan Ethan Wu’s documentary short, Death Education, exposes students to the reality of death.
Wu’s film opens on a hillside where a solitary grave stands. We then move to a funeral home where unidentified children’s bodies are cremated, and their ashes are placed in red fabric bags.
Next, the focus shifts to a teacher organizing his students for a tradition known as Tomb Sweeping Day. As the students board buses to the funeral home, the teacher speaks about respecting the dead. Upon arrival, the students carry the bags containing the remains of unidentified children and pay their final respects.
“…exposes students to the reality of death.”
I’m not sure we need to introduce death education for American kids, but the idea of a cemetery field trip fascinates me.
I recommend Death Education only because it’s worth watching this film with an open mind. I’m not the greatest resource for Chinese culture, but I do understand the reverence for our ancestors and the reverence for death. What’s different here is that in China, many adults and children die without identities or stories. They were once living beings, and their souls have passed on anonymously. Everyone deserves respect.
Death Education screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
"…A cemetery field trip...fascinates me."
