Join us at the historic Congressional Cemetery grounds near Capitol Hill for a unique film experience. Last Ecstatic Days is an intimate portal into a community of strangers who gathered to offer a dying man his final wish to be fearlessly, fully seen. Get to know Ethan Sisser and the people who stepped forward to be with him as he was dying. After the film, we will have a discussion with the director facilitated by the cemetery’s Death Doula in Residence.
Schedule:
- Reception 6pm
- Screening 6:30pm
- Panel discussion 7:45pm
- Close 8:30pm
Panel:
- Scott Kirschenbaum, Director, Producer
- Dr. Aditi Sethi, Executive Director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying NOTE: DR SETHI WILL NOT BE ABLE TO JOIN US
- Laura Lyster-Mensh, Death Doula in Residence at Congressional Cemetery
THE STORY
Ethan Sisser, a young man afflicted with brain cancer, sits alone in his hospital room. When he begins live-streaming his death journey on social media, thousands of people around the world join him and celebrate his courage. Still, Ethan envisions more – to teach the world how to die without fear. To honor his final wish of filming his death, his doctor, Aditi Sethi, transports him to a quiet house in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. What unfolds next is a story that’s rarely glimpsed: how a community of strangers helps an unhoused man die on his own terms.
Free public event. Donations to the Cemetery’s foundation and Center for Conscious Living and Dying welcome.
